From the Dales to Denirim, Lyla Mahariel's Tale
by Bert-Wrighty
Summary: Lyla Maharial, once a proud dalish elf hunter forced to become a warden, thrust into a world that hates her kind and a world where her hatred of humans will do more harm than good. Can she look past her prejudices and save Thedas from the fifth blight? Leliana/FMahariel.
1. Chapter 1- Stupid Shems

**_Authors note_**

**_this is my first fan fiction ever so any reviews and advice given would be helpful!_**

**_the first few chapters are going to be fairly strict to the games script but as you will see i do change it up a bit, hopefully later on i will be adding more and more differing from scripts as the characters come alive in my mind._**

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Chapter 1 – Stupid Shem

From the high branch of the tree Lyla Maharial had a clear view of her surroundings, the ancient brecillian forest in all its glory, she could see the tall trees span on for miles and miles in all directions except one, in the direction she was looking she could see a small clearing not too far ahead.

"Tamlen?" She called. "Have you had any luck yet?" Tamlen had been her friend for as long as she could remember and was happy that she had been chosen to hunt alongside him, there was truly no one else she would rather have with her.

"I wish Lethallan! I haven't seen a single creature all day, it's eerie almost as if they know better and are keeping away from here." Came his reply.

"Ah, we can't let the clan down, we must keep going Lethallin. Wait what was that?" their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of screaming to their south.

"We're the only hunting party right?" Tamlen asked. When his question was answered with a head nod. "Who could it be then? Mythal protect them, we must check on it."

Running towards the noise Lyla was terrified one of the Elvhen was hurt, only the dalish roamed this part of the woods, although there was the occasional foolhardy shemlen who didn't know how close to the clan they were.

Tamlen being a quicker elf found the group of humans first, the leader of whom collapsed on his backside once he saw Tamlen's Bow pointed at him.

"It's a dalish!" the fallen man exclaimed.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be!" Tamlen calmly replied.

"Let us pass elf, you have no right to stop us" one of the man's companions growled.

"No? We will see about that won't we" Tamlen replied as I walked into the clearing with them in "You're just in time, these **humans **lurking in the bush, bandits no doubt" he added extra venom when he said human to show his disgust for the race.

"Bandits Lethallin? Really? Bandits with no weaponry, well shemlen are incredibly stupid I suppose" Lyla chuckled as she spoke however she did unsheathe her sword and dagger.

"We should kill them for coming so close to our camp, if we let them go they will bring more back and attack" Tamlen stated.

"No please, we aren't here to harm you I swear, we just found a cave"

"Yes a cave it had ruins in, we found this inside" he took a stone from his pack and handed it to Tamlen. The stone had carvings of a bow and arrow with ancient elvish lettering around it.

"Is this elvish? Written elvish?!" Tamlen exclaimed obviously surprised at the find.

"There's more in the ruins, we didn't get very far in though"

"Why not Shem?" Lyla growled, she didn't like humans at the best of times and this group of idiots had annoyed her already with their whimpering.

"There was a demon, with huge black eyes, thank the maker we got away in time"

"Your false maker has not room in our forest shemlen you would do well to remember that" Lyla spat "where is this cave?"

The humans pointed "just off the west I, I think there's a cave in the rock face" He cried

"it's easy to spot, I'm surprised you dalish haven't seen it already" his companion added venomously.

Lyla screamed with anger and ran at the humans driving her sword into the first ones belly. "This is our forest we know all of her secrets! Mythal looks after it as she does us! Now run shem before I kill you all!"

The other humans scattered as Tamlen walked towards her "well that was certainly interesting, though we should have killed them all" shaking his head and looking towards the west "we should go find this cave they were talking about though, if there is more elvish writing the keeper will be interested in anything we take back" Lyla nodded her head in agreement and started walking in the direction the human pointed.

**-FTDTD-**

As they walked towards the cliff a pack of wolves came upon them, Lyla roared as she ran at the animals, Tamlen simply fired an arrow into the face of one whilst saying "Lethallan do you really have to scream every time you attack something? You're meant to be a hunter not a barbarian!"

She ignored his comment as she kicked a wolf away from her and following it through with her sword crashing down upon its back. She turned to fight the final wolf but an arrow hits it instead stopping it dead. "That was my kill Lethallin" she murmured with a hint of disappointment "well at least we have wolf meat to bring back if this cave has no treasure, come let's carry on"

They walked on fighting off more groups of wolves until they found the entrance to the cave.

"This must be the cave the Shem were talking about, I don't recall seeing this before do you?" Tamlen asked

"No Lethallin I have never seen this place, we should be cautious this is very strange"

"Come on Mahariel lets at least see what's inside before you get all cowardly like those shemlen"

She growled in protest to his tease but said nothing else and walking into the cave front.

**-FTDTD-**

They had fought giant spiders, one managing to bite Lyla's arm but it was superficial and caused her little pain, they turned a corner and spied an ancient moss covered statue of a woman with a spear in one hand and her other bare.

"I can't believe this, you recognise this statue don't you?" Tamlen gasped.

Looking closer at the statue and realised it did look familiar but she couldn't remember where from, she told Tamlen this.

"Back when out people lived in arlathen statues like this honoured the creators. When the Shems enslaved us much of that lore was lost" Tamlen almost whispered in awe.

"I don't understand we look to be in human ruins but with an elvish statue?" Lyla looked around and saw that the corpses around them were getting up and bearing arms. "Tamlen watch out there is dark magic here, the corpses are rising"

She ran at the first cutting its head off with one swift motion, the second fell to two arrows hitting its head in quick succession, the third though was using magic and caught Lyla in a paralysing spell holding her still. Tamlen fired a multitude of arrows at the corpse but none stopped it, so he charged, screaming as he did, and stabbed it with the Dar'Misu he had on him. The corpse parried it with its staff but stumbled back and falling. Tamlen quickly jumped upon it and stabbed it as quickly and as numerously as he could finally killing it.

"Ma serannas Lethallin, that was horrifying being held in that spell." Lyla gasped as she fell to her knees.

"Well I couldn't just leave you there could I? Merrill would never forgive me leaving her best friend frozen in these ruins!" Tamlen laughed.

"Don't think I didn't notice you screaming as you attacked though da'assan, I told you it felt good didn't I" she teased as she walked towards the door at the end of the corridor.

Upon opening it a monstrous bear like creature ran towards her, quickly closing the door in its face with a squeal she backed off and steeled herself against the horror she saw. "Do you think this will hold it Tamlen?"

"Somehow I doubt we will be that lucky"

The door crashed down as the creature ran at her undeterred by the number of arrows Tamlen had fired into its body, it knocked her down and was about to bite her as an arrow landed in its eye.

It let out an angry roar as its attention turned to the archer and ran. It swiped a claw at him hitting him in the chest causing Tamlen to fall to the ground.

The creature rose to its hind legs and roared again this time it sounded almost like it was gloating but it was cut short by a little elven woman jumping on its back and stabbing her twin blades into its skull. It fell unceremoniously to the floor with a thump.

"Da'mi that was incredible, you fought with the spirit of Andruil herself!" Tamlen said in awe.

"Well I owed you for the save from that mage, we are even now Lethallin." She chuckled as she spoke "come let's see what this monster was guarding yes?"

They walked into the room noting that there was nothing of any real importance apart from a giant mirror in the centre of the room.

"Well this was a waste of time Lethallin, a fat lot of nothing and a mirror which doesn't even reflect!" Lyla spoke "come let's go inform the keeper of our findings" she turned to make her way out but was interrupted by a noise from Tamlen.

"I think something moved inside the mirror" Tamlen whispered "there it is again! Did you see it?" moving towards the mirror with one hand outstretched.

"Be careful Lethallin!" Lyla cried as he touched it.

"It saw me!" he screamed "I can't look away, HELP!"

Then it all went black and Lyla was thrown back from the mirror and lost consciousness.

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**_Authors note _**

**_translations in this chapter_**

**_Lethallan- friend (female form)_**

**_Lethallin - Friend (male form)_**

**_Mythal - elvish goddess known as the great protector_**

**_Elvhen - the elvish word for the dalish meaning our people_**

**_shemlen - quick child- elvish word for humans usually used as insult_**

**_Dar'misu - elvish dagger_**

**_da'assan - little arrow_**

**_da'mi - little blade_**

**_Ma serannas - thank you_**

**_Andruil -goddess of the hunt_**


	2. Chapter 2 - Warden

**_Authors Note_**

**_ok i managed a bit more a change from the script this time, i think it worked out for the better to be honest._**

**_in terms of updating i am going to upload the first 5 chapters this weekend then settle in for hopefully 2 chapters a week._**

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Chapter 2 - Warden

Lyla woke up in her aravel alone and naked, she was scared the last thing she remembered was flying back from that accursed mirror watching Tamlen falling into it. She hoped he was ok.

Looking around for some clothing to wear she saw her reflection in her mirror and stopped for a second to admire herself. Her red hair was still in its braided style despite the fact she had fought for so long and seemingly teleported herself to her home, the bright blue eyes looking back at her whilst normally full of cheer, even when others weren't, were filled with sadness, looking upon her vallaslin she admired the design she had chosen, a complex mesh of swirls and lines forming around her eyes like a mask. When she finally managed to pull her eyes away from herself she saw some clothing upon her floor and put it on.

Walking out she saw Fenarel walking towards her, his face full of obvious relief. "You're awake! Everyone was worried sick about you, how are you feeling?"

"Worried, where is Tamlen? I was with him last I remember" Lyla asked struggling to keep the fear from her face as she recalled the events with the mirror.

"We don't know, the Shem who brought you here didn't see any sign of him"

"We let a shem in our camp?!" she asked astonished, it was forbidden for anyone who was not dalish to enter a camp, punishable by death, the fact that this shem was allowed in meant either she was gravely injured or he was greatly trusted either way she was angry.

"He brought you back two days ago? Don't you remember him?" he asked avoiding her question.

"The only Shem I remember I killed or scared off, I doubt it was one of them"

"he was a grey warden Lyla and he appeared out of nowhere with you draped over his shoulder" he said barely keeping the emotion out of his voice "when we challenged him he said you were very injured and he was a grey warden who found you and had to help"

Fenarel then went out to describe how the keeper and Merrill had kept her from death with a combination of poultices, herbs and magic. He told her of how the warden almost literally dropped her at the keeper's feet and ran off again muttering something about inspecting the cave he found her outside of.

"Wait he said outside of?" Lyla asked "the last I remember I was inside of a cave, how did I get out?"

"I don't know" Fenarel replied "we don't know what happened to you or where Tamlen is, the keeper has asked that you speak to her as soon as you can Lethallan"

"Ma serannas Fenarel I will go speak to her now"

"No Lyla you wait here I will get her, and sit down you haven't recovered fully yet"

**-FTDTD-**

Duncan approached the cave wearily, he had felt the taint here as soon as he came close enough, he had planned to find the dalish elves to seek recruitment for his order to fight in the blight but this was more important right now, somehow though when he had reached the cave the first time he had found an unconscious female elf alone on the cave entrance floor, he had decided that her life was more important and the gratitude of the elves would help him get his recruits so he took her back swiftly.

Now though he had time to survey the cave, he had fought a number of darkspawn to get here and felt the presence of taint more strongly the further in he got, he finally reached the room with the mirror and stopped to inspect it, he decided it must be of tevinter origin as he recalled the stories he had been told of them using mirrors as long range communication devices, he would have to make a camp and study it.

Walking back through the cave was simple enough, the darkspawn had not yet returned to the cave in full strength meaning he had a relatively easy time of it, coming out the other side he decided he didn't want to stray too far from the cave in case of would be treasure hunters wandering in and being preyed upon by the darkspawn so he made his camp just outside the caves entrance, far enough away that the darkspawn would not trouble him but close enough that he could trouble them.

As a day passed he explored the ruins again finding several statues and stones with elvish carvings on them, he must remember to bring them with him to the dalish, the more gratitude the better when it came to getting the recruits he needed.

He had been there 3 days and was studying the tevinter mirror when he heard fighting and elvish cursing from the corridor behind him, before he could reach the door and help the fighting the noises stopped as suddenly as they started and he saw the door fly open as the elf lady he had rescued walked in.

**-FTDTD-**

"I see you are awake da'len, it is fortunate Duncan found you when he did" the keeper said as she approached Lyla. "I know not what dark power held you but it nearly bled the life from you, it was difficult even with Merrill's help to save you"

"Duncan, is that the Shem that brought me back?" Lyla asked cautiously

"Don't use that insult on the man that saved your life da'len, he is a hero to this clan for that and he should be to you. He is also a grey warden and we respect that Lyla." The keeper said sternly but then softened her voice "if Tamlen was injured the same way you were da'len we need to find him, do you think you could be strong enough to show us the way?"

"Of course keeper I will show whomever you want, but please let me help in the search inside the cave!" Lyla pleaded

"Very well da'len Merrill will accompany you as will Fenarel" The keeper spoke softly but with purpose "Duncan said there were darkspawn in the cave did you see any?"

"I don't know Hahren, what do they look like? I did see a humongous bear like creature, it had the body of a bear but was much bigger than any I have ever seen and it had horrific spikes on its back as if transformed by banalthan." Lyla spoke quickly wanting to get underway to find her childhood friend as soon as possible.

"I don't know what that was da'len but it was not a darkspawn, was it this creature that injured you?"

"No there was a mirror and when Tamlen reached for it he fell in and it threw me back" Lyla cried as she was unable to hold back the fear of losing her best friend.

"A mirror and it caused all this? I have never heard of such a thing in all the lore we have collected, it is good I am sending Merrill with you, as my first she should find this mirror, but of course finding Tamlen is much more important than any mirror, Duncan has returned to the cave to fight the darkspawn but we cannot rely on him to find our lost da'len, you must got as soon as you can Mahariel." With that statement she walked off leaving Lyla on her own.

Lyla went back into her aravel and changed into her armour and equipped her sword and dagger, then went to look for Merrill however she was called upon by Paivel the clans storyteller to help him teach the children, a job she usually enjoyed as she loved her peoples history but today she had no time if she wanted to find Tamlen alive, apologising to Paivel as she made her exit she spotted Fenarel sitting two elves practicing shooting.

As she got to Fenarel her eyes were drawn to the elves who were practicing, she recognised one but saw that the other whilst a fully grown adult elf did not have any vallaslin and even stranger she didn't recognise him at all.

Fenarel noticed her confusion as she looked over at them and noted that the new elf was a runaway from Denirim and was a good man, she told him that he was to accompany her to the cave with Merrill and asked if he knew where she was.

"you know Merrill better than I Lyla but knowing her as I do she is no doubt talking the ear off Maren we both know how much she loves the halla!" Fenarel laughed as he spoke. "Come let's go get her together."

Once they had found Merrill and managed to tear her away from the halla they checked their equipment and departed to find the cave.

**-FTDTD-**

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**_Translations_**

**_Aravel- the elvish carriage_**

**_vallaslin - the face tattoo of a dalish elf_**

**_ma serannas - thank you_**

**_lethallan/lethallin - close friend_**

**_da'len - little child_**

**_hahren - elder_**

**_banalthan - elvish word for blight/where the blight comes from_**


	3. Chapter 3 - Ostagar

**_Authors note_**

**_this is a long chapter but i wanted to get the origin story out of the way and get to ostager sooner rather than later, nothing really to say about this chapter though, as always please review i need help with my writing i know! _**

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Chapter 3 – Ostagar

It took Lyla 2 hours to guide her group through the dense bush of the brecillian forest, coming to the clearing where she had killed the shem she was surprised to find the body was gone, 'The grey warden must have moved it' Lyla thought but this was interrupted by Fenarel.

"What's that strange creature over there?" Fenarel asked as she pointed to a group of short pale skinned humanoids. "Do you recognise them Lyla?"

"No but they don't look friendly do they, be careful. Fenarel draw your bow and take aim, Merrill stay behind him and be ready to attack." Lyla spoke as she withdrew her blades and noting that the monsters also had their weapons drawn.

"Lyla, I think these creatures are darkspawn" Merrill sounded terrified as she spoke "I recognise them from the lore we have collected in camp, be careful Lethallan they are very dangerous to fight."

"Perhaps they will finally be a challenge then?" Lyla chuckled as she made the joke, trying to calm Merrill down and herself.

An arrow flying between the three of them interrupted their conversation and they were forced to engage the darkspawn, Merrill immediately fired a spell from her staff hitting one of the darkspawn square in the chest but it did little damage and only managed to slow it down. Fenarel saw this and fired his arrows at the same creature successfully bringing it down. Lyla ran towards the remainder of the group and stabbed at the first one she reached, it blocked her skilfully with its own knifes and attacked but Lyla was too quick and simply moved out of its way whilst stabbing it in the neck.

"Ma emma Harel, Ma Halam" Lyla growled at the darkspawn that had ignored her running to get Fenarel but upon hearing this threat it turned its attention back to her leaving its back exposed to Fenarel and Merrill. They took quick note of this and attacked quickly killing it within a matter of seconds.

"Those things were terrifying Lethallan, you could smell the evil on them!" Merrill shook as she spoke, being the keepers first she was trained to fight but she never had to fight anything more than deer as the clan kept her out of harm's way safe in camp. "Where they here before? No wait of course they weren't you would have recognised them, where did they come from then? Why are they here?"

Lyla smiled as she heard her friend go from a terrified girl to the curious rambling woman she had known for so long.

"Well I suppose we will find out soon enough, we should carry on and hope we don't find any more of these monsters" Merrill finally stopped rambling. "Before we continue though Lethallan are you ok? You look very pale. Were you hurt during the fighting? Oh no I should have used my healing spells to keep you safe"

"Merrill I'm fine don't worry, the creatures were no match for me! There's a reason I'm the best hunter in the clan and it's not because I'm so small the animals can't see me!" came Lyla's reply.

"No she's right Lyla you do look very pale, are you sure you're ok?" Fenarel asked of her.

"I'm Fine" Lyla spoke a little more sternly than perhaps she should but how could they worry about her when Tamlen was missing? It was much more important to find her friend than the fact that she was pale.

"Well. I'll keep a closer eye on you Mahariel, you have only just recovered from the sickness." Merrill spoke softly putting a hand on Lyla's shoulder as she spoke.

Lyla said nothing just removed Merrill's hand and carried on walking towards the cave, she appreciated Merrill's concern but there was no time to waste if they wanted to save Tamlen.

They fought a few more groups of darkspawn before reaching the caves entrance, Merrill gasped as she inspected the ruins, likely in awe of the fact she was so close to the dalish history that she was so enthralled with. Carrying on in the cave they fought more and more darkspawn until they reached the room with the mirror.

Lyla was surprised to find a Shem in the room waiting for her with swords drawn.

"So you were the one fighting darkspawn? I thought I heard combat" Duncan mused as he sheathed his twin swords. "You're the elf I found wandering the forest aren't you? I'm surprised you have recovered" surprised didn't seem to cover it he thought, the fact she had the taint and was still strong enough to fight through a cave of darkspawn was extremely impressive.

"I don't understand why you helped me human, most shemlen would have left me for dead" Lyla said, she was careful not to call this man a shem, the keeper said he was worthy of respect and he had saved her life so despite the fact he was not Elvhen she would treat hit with the respect he deserved.

"It was my duty to help an injured dalish, your people have always been ally's to the grey wardens" Duncan said ignoring her use of the word shemlen but noting the fact she did not address him as such. "My name is Duncan and it's a pleasure to finally meet you, the last time we spoke you were barely conscious muttering in the elvish tongue, so I was unfortunately not able to hold a conversation with you"

"Andaran Atish'an Duncan of the Grey Wardens, I am Lyla Mahariel hunter of the Sabrae clan." Lyla spoke carefully trying to be as respectful as possible but her hatred of humans was slowly making its way into her voice. "This is Merrill the Keepers apprentice and this is Fenarel another hunter." Gesturing to her companions as she spoke.

"Did you come here alone human? Battling all these creatures by yourself?" Fenarel asked.

"Yes though you took a great deal of pressure off me when you attacked" Duncan spoke softly to avoid his low voice carrying through the cave "the keeper didn't send you here after me did she? If told her I would be in no danger."

"We are looking for our clan mate Tamlen" Lyla spoke "we aren't in the business of saving humans"

Ignoring her comment Duncan asked "so you and Tamlen entered this cave and you saw this mirror?"

"Yes was that bear we saw a darkspawn?" gesturing to the creatures body that was still in the corner of the room, albeit slightly smellier than the last time she saw it.

"Perhaps. The mirror draws darkspawn near" Duncan replied " the grey wardens have seen artefacts like this mirror before it is of tevinter origin, they used it as a communication tool but now some of them just simply break, they become filled with the same taint as the darkspawn, Tamlen's touch must have released it. It's what made you sick, and Tamlen I presume."

"So it's true? I had the darkspawn plague?" fear crept into Lyla's voice as she spoke

"You have it still and it will infect others if we do not destroy this mirror, your recovery is only temporary and I can still sense the taint in you, and it is spreading, look inside yourself and you will see."

"Perhaps you're right shem" Lyla was too worried to care about respecting this man now.

"Confirm it with your keeper later if you like, for now we must deal with this mirror it's a danger" as he spoke he withdrew a single sword and walked towards the mirror, smashing it with one strong attack.

A bright white light filled the room as the sound of an evil scream filled their ears.

"It is done, now let's leave this cursed place. I must speak with your keeper about the cure for your plague."

"What about Tamlen?" Lyla asked Duncan when he stopped.

"There is nothing we can do"

"I'm not leaving without him Shem, I am not leaving my friend to die!" Lyla growled in defiance to his reply.

"let me be very clear, there is nothing you can do for him, he has been tainted for three days now unaided, through your clans healing and your own amazing willpower you did not die but he will not be so lucky, I am very sorry" Duncan spoke softly understanding the small elf woman's need to help her friend. "Trust me when I say that he is gone, now we must return to your clan"

Merrill put her arm around Lyla and pulled her out of the room and back towards the cave entrance.

**-FTDTD-**

The keepers face lit up when she saw her young hunters return with Duncan. "I am relieved to see you have returned! And I did not expect to see you again so soon Duncan"

"I was not expecting to return so soon either keeper"

"Dare I ask of Tamlen? What did you find of him?" turning her attention back to Lyla.

"If he was alive, the darkspawn would have killed him." Lyla struggled to say the words and Merrill put her arm around her old friend for comfort.

"There… there were darkspawn in the cave?"

"We have much to discuss keeper, I have learnt much since I was last here." Duncan told the keeper with authority, the way he ordered the keeper about annoyed Lyla, this was the keeper of her clan and she demanded the respect of humans not the other way around.

"We can speak privately in my aravel Duncan." Lyla was shocked to hear the keeper invite the human into her aravel, this was unheard of, and other elves were rarely invited into her aravel to speak never mind a shemlen. "Merrill, warn the hunters that darkspawn are about, I want the clan prepared."

"Ma nuvenin, keeper. Right away" with that Merrill withdrew her arm from Lyla with a light squeeze then walked towards the hunters.

"Da'len allow me some time to speak with Duncan. Seek us out at my aravel later and we can discuss your cure." With that Lyla bowed her head in respect and walked off towards the elves she had seen practicing their marksmanship earlier.

"Andaran Atish'an Junar and who is this flat ear?" Lyla spoke with no venom in her voice, the insult merely a tease, she knew that if the elf was allowed in the camp he was good and deserving of her respect this didn't stop the young elf from lowering his eyes in shame and fear of her. "Lethallin I am joking, I did not mean to offend you"

"Oh sorry I am not used to the dalish ways yet, I have heard of you though, you are Lyla correct? Everyone is talking about you and the other missing hunter, I know you went to find him, did you have any luck?" Pol asked quietly as if worrying to offend her.

"he is dead Lethallin, it is a terrible time for the clan" Lyla couldn't say anymore as she was struggling to keep the tears from falling as it was, she did not want to break down in front of this stranger even if he had been allowed into her clan.

"That is terrible I am sorry for your loss, I wish I could have known him, from what I've heard he was a great man" Pols reply came hesitantly he obviously had no idea of what to say.

"sorry, I came to meet you Pol but I am afraid I am extremely hungry I hope you don't mind if I leave you two to practice?" without waiting for an answer she walked off, she wasn't that hungry really but she needed to get away from the others for a while, she needed to mourn her friends loss in private.

She made her way to her aravel and closed its door behind her, as soon as she was alone she lay on the bedroll and cried, memories of hunting with Tamlen flooded through her mind.

_The first time they had gone on a hunt together Tamlen was too busy trying to impress Lyla to notice a giant bear approaching from behind him, Lyla screamed as she jumped from the branch she was resting on to run towards the animal, hoping to scare it off or at least make it hesitant, they didn't have the weaponry to fight such a monster and they would be dead if it decided to attack. Tamlen look confused but turned around when he saw her running towards him, a scream escaped his lips as he ran in the other direction and tried to climb the trees._

'_Tamlen was never very good at climbing' Lyla thought to herself as she ran 'I had better help him before this bear catches him' she saw the bear recover from its shock of this little redheaded elf girl running at it with no fear and ran at the nearest elf, it had not eaten for days and this seemed like a good meal. How wrong it was._

_Lyla hurried Tamlen up the tree hoping the branches were strong enough for Tamlen's weight and immediately followed him up. "You should pay more attention Tamlen, were trapped up here now because of it!" she growled at him._

"_I'm sorry Lyla, it's just Its my first hunt and I wanted to impress you, we have been friends for a long time but you have always been the better fighter and I wanted to show you my skill as well" Tamlen muttered miserably looking down at the bear now which was circling around._

"_Hah, you tried to impress me by not paying attention? Oh Tamlen its almost funny how inept you can be sometimes" she teased as her mind raced on a way to get out of this, there was only one way out though and she knew it. They would have to kill the bear._

_Looking at her equipment she noted that she had no arrows left, but she was much better with the daggers she carried anyway so she wasn't concerned, she took her daggers in her hand and looked at Tamlen, she noted he had a full quiver of arrows left 'he must have been remembering to pick them back up' she thought to herself._

"_Tamlen I need you to start shooting the bear whilst I attack it." She spoke with authority to Tamlen._

"_You're going to attack it with your Dar'Misu? You must be crazy Lethallan!" Tamlen looked shocked but fired an arrow at the bear anyway, it pierced its skin and the bear went crazy with angry roaring and standing on its hind legs._

_Lyla jumped down from the branch onto the bears back stabbing as she fell. She managed to get her daggers in between the shoulder blades of the bear and continued to stab it wildly losing herself to the bloodlust, the bear roared in pain but fell to the floor dead._

"_Lethallan you are crazy but you fight with the blessing of Andruil, no wonder you are known as Da'mi to the other hunters!" Tamlen spoke with a new found respect for his friend, Lyla just laughed and thought about the nickname she had earned. As a child practicing her swordfight skills she was always the fastest blade and once managed to beat an adult elf, earning her the nickname._

"_Hah Tamlen if I am Da'mi then you are Da'assan, little arrow! The way you shoot is amazing!"_

Her memories where rudely interrupted by a voice. "Lyla the keeper has asked you to go see her in her aravel" Merrill's voice sounded through the door of the aravel.

"Ok Lethallan I will go now, thank you for telling me."

**-FTDTD-**

"Your keeper and I have spoken, we have come to an arrangement that concerns you. My order is in need of help. You are in need of a cure. When I leave I hope you will join me. You would make an excellent warden." Duncan softly spoke to Lyla as she approached his low voice carrying the distance between them.

"I cant just leave my clan human" Lyla scoffed.

"and we would not just send you away da'len but there is more to this" the keeper gently spoke

"The darkspawn taint courses through your veins, that you recovered at all is remarkable. But eventually the taint will sicken and kill you, or worse. The grey wardens can prevent that but it means joining us" Duncan informed Lyla.

" will I be able to join my clan after?" Lyla asked hopefully, she couldn't imagine living without her clan.

"we do not know da'len but we can not just watch you suffer, the grey wardens have a cure you must use it." The keeper struggled to keep the sadness out of her eyes.

"this is not simply charity on my part, I would not offer this if I did not think you had the makings of a grey warden. Let me be clear, you will likely never return here. We go to fight the Darkspawn, a battle that will take us far from your clan. But we need you and others like you."

"is the clan sending me away keeper?" Lyla was unable to keep the sorrow from her voice this time, the loss of her friend was hard but now she was being thrown out of her clan as well, she would be all alone in a world of shem who hated her and whom she hated all because of a simple mistake.

"a great army of darkspawn gathers in the south. A new blight threatens the land. We cannot outrun this ago. The dalish agreed to aid the grey wardens against a blight should that day arrive. We should honour that agreement. It breaks my heart to send you away. As it would to watch you die slowly from this sickness. This is your duty, and your salvation" the keeper spoke slowly choosing her words very carefully.

"this is all I have ever known, this is my home!" Lyla cried out

"a home that the darkspawn would destroy child, this is the only way to protect it" Duncan spoke with a new anger when he mentioned the darkspawn.

"it breaks my heart to send one of our daughters away da'len but you must do this you must do your duty and help the grey wardens."

Lyla was mortified, they were really sending her away in the arms of this shem, was she to be his slave now? Was that what they wanted. She had thought the keeper cared for her but she would rather die than leave her clan, leave her only friends. "please don't send me away Hahren!"

"I am sorry da'len"

"very well, I invoke the right of conscription" Duncan sounded upset at her choice but she didn't care she hated the shem more than ever for taking her away.

"I acknowledge your right warden" the keeper replied.

"I am sorry this was not your chgoice but the darkspawn threat is too great" Duncan did genuinely sound and look sorry but this meant nothing to Lyla who saw this whole thing as a way to capture her and was shocked that the keeper would let it happen.

"you cannot make me serve against my will shemlen!" she spat at him.

"I will drag you kicking and screaming to Ostagar if I must! Would you rather sicken your own people?" at that comment Lyla realised what was truly going on, she was being stupidly selfish, Duncan didn't want her as a slave he was just trying to help her people, something Lyla had devoted her life too, how could she have been that foolish to believe the keeper would send her away as a slave?

"I know you will do the clan proud, da'len. Take this ring. It is your heritage and it will help remind you that we have not left you and never will."

"a valuable gift, are you ready to go?" Duncan asked quietly.

"could we stay for tamlens funeral at least Duncan?" Lyla used his name for the first time since meeting him, she hoped he would acknowledge this bit of respect and see that she had seen the error of her ways but his face showed no clue as to whether he did or not.

"We have much ground to cover but I can't deny you that. Say your farewells and we must be off"

Lyla walked away from the keeper and the warden trying to find Merrill. Merrill had been her best friend since she had come to the clan, and Lyla wanted her to be the first to know she was leaving. She found her sitting in the halla pen singing to them. Lyla sat and listened for a while having never heard Merrill sing before, and as she realised how beautiful it was the rush of emotions of the last few days hit her and she broke down crying.

Merrill heard the noise of it and turned around, seeing her best friend on the ground she ran immediately to comfort her. "Lethallan are you ok?"

"Mer they are sending me away with the warden "Lyla could barely get the words out between sobs "I am being cast out alone to serve with them, I will miss you so much" and she said no more just quietly sobbing into her friends shoulder as Merrill comforted her.

The funeral was held that night and in the morning Duncan informed her that the must leave for Ostagar immediately and that she must say her goodbyes now.

* * *

**_Authors note__  
_**

**_translations_**

**_lethallan/lethallin - friend_**

**_Ma emma Harel, Ma Halam - you should fear me, you are finished._**

**_Andaran Atish'an - an elvish greeting meaning Enter this place in peace._**

**_Ma nuvenin - as you wish_**

**_Da'len - little child_**

**_hahren - elder_**


	4. Chapter 4 - Alistair

**_Authors note_**

**_i think i should state that Lyla is a warrior just in case i hadnt made it clear, this chapter includes a lot of extra scenes that arent in the game but i thought would be a lot of fun to write and well they were, i hope they are ok to read._**

**_as always please read and review this chapter._**

* * *

Chapter 4 – alistair

The journey from Lyla's camp to Ostagar took a little over two weeks and it was travelled mostly in silence, Lyla understood now why she had to leave her clan behind as she could infect them but that did not make it any easier to deal with, she had tried to forgive Duncan for forcing her to go but her hatred of the shemlen and this particular one was strong.

She didn't really understand why she hated Duncan, the man had been nothing but nice to her since they had left the clan, he had even tried to talk to her a few times before being rudely interrupted with a range of elvish and common tongue insults. As she was trying to clear her head and understand her feelings she was interrupted by Duncan.

"Lyla, ready your weapon, darkspawn are approaching" was all Duncan said before putting out the fire that they were camping around. Lyla was used to being in the darkness of the forest so her eyes quickly adapted to the dark. Looking around however she saw no signs of any darkspawn in any direction. She drew her blades regardless and following Duncan to where he was running.

Duncan had sensed the darkspawn threat before they were close enough to see the camp he had set up and he was thankful for that, if he was a bit slower at realising what he felt they would have been upon them and found them even quicker in the light, of course darkspawn had excellent night vision but he would not want to allow them to discover where the pair had rested. He motioned for Lyla to draw her bow and climb the nearby tree, hoping that she would be safer up there, she would not admit it to him but he could tell she was struggling with leaving her camp and thus her mind was conflicted and would not be sharp enough for the coming fight, also he wished to see If the fabled dalish archers where as good as they were imagined.

From the high branch she had made it to Lyla looked around and finally saw them, a group of six darkspawn, four of which were similar to the small creatures she had fought at the cave but the other two were much taller seeming that they would tower at least a head above her, 'they must be at least as big as Duncan' she thought. Taking aim at the nearest one she let an arrow fly but missed. Silently she cursed that she hadn't practiced her bow as much as her swordplay and readied another arrow to fire but Duncan had already reached the group and was fighting with that much ferocity and savagery it surprised Lyla and gained him a newfound respect in her eyes, 'this was why the grey wardens were so revered' she mused 'this was the foe that they were meant to fight its almost beautiful watching this man fight'. She soon shook herself out of this admiration though realising that he needed her help even if he had already managed to slay the first two, she fired another arrow and found her aim true. She got one of the taller darkspawn in the neck knocking it down were Duncan span around and chopped its head off with an almost effortless swipe of one of his swords.

The rest of the darkspawn were dispatched of easily and Duncan approached Lyla hoping she would be in more of a talkative mood that she had been the last two weeks. "Lyla good shooting. I see that the stories about your people are true."

"oh no Duncan, I am atrocious at shooting, give me a sword and dagger though and I am almost unstoppable, I was the best swordsman in the clan but I think that perhaps even I am not as good as you!" she smiled at him now realising she had to apologise for how she had treated him that last fortnight. "Duncan I am sorry for how I have acted whilst we travelled, I had thought at first that you only wanted me as a slave and that perhaps you were as untrustworthy as other shem but I see now I was wrong, you would not let me fight alongside you or trust my life in your hands by giving me my weapons if you truly wanted a slave. Please forgive me Hahren."

"there is nothing to forgive child, you have hardly had an easy time the last few weeks, losing your close friends and being forced to leave your clan, I can tell you are distrustful of humans though and I hope that my order and I can change that, we aren't all as bad as the bandits that try to pray upon you dalish. Though I must ask what Hahren means. I have heard you call your keeper it so I assumed that was what it meant but now I am no sure." Duncan's face truly looked confused as he spoke trying to understand why she would call him a keeper.

"No Duncan it means Elder, it is a term of respect for the Elvhen erm" she paused as she thought of a suitable translation that he would not take offence at. "It is similar I suppose to the trade tongues Messere I think."

"Thank you Lyla. I honestly never expected you to call me anything other than dirty Shem though!" he laughed as he spoke "I was scared I would have to start insulting you back!"

"well you dirty shem, if you call me knife-ears I will be very upset, I don't think I could ever forgive you, I may even cry!" she pointed a tongue out at the statement to show with no doubt she was joking, just in case he missed it in the tone of her voice.

"I would not dare child, though I imagine if I wanted to truly insult you then you would attack me before I even finished." He laughed as he spoke. "Well Lyla it is late and I am getting older, perhaps we can continue this conversation in the morning, do you want first or second watch?"

"I'll take first Hahren, you get your sleep and rest those old bones, good night." Duncan smiled as he walked off, finally she had warmed up to him, he had worried that if he brought this ice cold dalish warrior before the king she might attack him but now he could see that whilst her deep hatred of humans was there she could learn to overcome it, something he would have to help her with in the coming years.

**-FTDTD-**

alistair enjoyed being a grey warden, he was much happier now than he had ever been as a Templar recruit, the last time he was this happy was before he left for the chantry, playing with the other servant children when he had time. A smile grew upon his face as he remembered that, suddenly being wiped off his face by a sword hitting his side. Groaning in pain he looked up.

"you know that you're meant to pay attention when we are training right?" the soldier attacking alistair was Fergus Cousland the son of a Teyrn Cousland, the well liked Teyrn of highever, alistair was surprised when he arrived without his father but Fergus explained that his father stayed behind to wait for Arl Howe's troops to arrive at castle Cousland.

"Hah I was trying to make you look good in front of your men!" as he spoke he thrust his shield into the other man, knocking him onto his backside.

"Oh of course Warden, for me to defeat a grey warden in training is very impressive" Fergus got up whilst laughing "though it is a lot less impressive when the grey warden is looking away and smiling to himself! Anyway I think that's enough training for now, it looks as if that knight you recruited wants to speak to you." He gestured at the knight waiting patiently at the edge of the training area.

With a wave he left Fergus and walked over to the knight "Ser Jory, what can I do for you?" he sighed internally hoping the man wouldn't question the importance of the trials he faced.

"Ser Warden, I just want to know why it is necessary for me to partake in more trials. I have already proved my worth to the order, I won the tournament did I not? I should be able to bring honour to my family and be a grey warden now!" Jory was a big man but the way he spoke to alistair was so submitting it almost seemed he was tiny compared to him.

"Ser Jory, I've already told you, please just call me alistair. And yes you have to do the trials, every recruit does, it is important, we should be able to start soon. A runner arrived yesterday morning saying Duncan has found our final recruit for now and is bringing her here to train. They should be arriving soon if all has gone to plan." alistair stared at the man, for a knight of Radcliffe to act so cowardly was disconcerting to say the least "come let's find Daveth and get some food, I am starving my friend, aren't you?"

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla looked upon the ruins of Ostagar as they approached, in awe at them, she had never seen anything like this before, the closest to ruins of this size were in the cave and they were tiny in comparison, her camp had never gone near places like this as they often had bandits or treasure hunters occupying them which could have been dangerous for the children in the camp.

"Do all grey warden castles look so ruined Hahren?" she asked Duncan, still using the elvish termed as she felt since he was her new leader he deserved all the respect she could give him.

"ah no child, we are camped here because this is where the majority of the darkspawn have been leaving the darkspawn, this is no warden castle, in fact there are none left in Ferelden, all we have is a secret vault in denirim now." Duncan replied as they crossed the giant bridge leading into the ruins. Looking ahead Lyla could see a man in golden armour standing in the building at the end of the bridge.

"Do all shemlen have such pretentious armour? It isn't exactly as stealthy as the dalish way" she mused out loud but Duncan decided not to reply instead calling out to the man.

"King Cailen. I didn't expect…" he started before being interrupted by the golden man

"A royal welcome? And here I thought you would be missing all the fun! I take it your recruit hunting went well. I've been told you bring a new recruit to join in all this merriment! I take it this is she?" he spoke with a lilted tone.

"Allow me to introduce you your majesty" as he began to say her name the king interrupted again, Lyla could tell she would not like this man at all.

"No need to be so formal Duncan, we are going to be bleeding together are we not? Perhaps even drinking and eating together if not more!" he laughed as he spoke, the guards behind him joining in "I am king Cailen Of Ferelden, though I am sure you already know that" the guards laughed a little louder at this. "What is your name friend?"

"I am no friend of yours Shem. I am not going to eat, drink or do anything you may expect one of your flat-eared whores to do, I am a Dale, one of the Elvhen, you are not my king and I am not your whore do not treat me as such!" she growled at him, how this man's comments annoyed so quickly she did not know. The guards behind him stopped laughing and went to draw their swords but Duncan stepped in.

"I know he is not your king child and he shouldn't have insulted you but I'm sure he meant nothing by it and was just trying to talk, why don't you go through and get some food I will come meet you once I have finished talking to the king." He spoke softly to her trying to calm her down before she did anything stupid like attacking the king. "And you guards, if you ever draw your swords at any of my wardens you will die before the blade even leaves its sheath. Are we clear?" this time he growled at the guards with nearly as much ferocity as Lyla did.

"Now now Duncan they were only defending their king, I am sorry Serah, I meant no offence." The king spoke but she ignored him walking past the king to find something to eat.

She found the eating area after walking around aimlessly, a soldier had offered to help her find her way but she refused to allow a shemlen to offer her advice. Looking at the tables in the big tent she noted one of the men there was wearing the same crest she had seen on Duncan and approached.

"Shemlen are you a grey warden?" she asked of him.

"Yes. My name is alistair, why do you ask?" alistair turned on the bench to look at the woman behind him. "Oh you must be the new recruit!" he started as he got up "Duncan sent word he had found a dalish warrior to join us, please join us at the table, I'll find you something to eat, you must be tired after your journey." With that he left the table and went to find some food for her.

Sitting down she was amazed at the shemlen's manner, he did not treat her as a servant as the other shemlen did and he even went to get her food, she decided this man was worthy of at least trying to get her respect now. Looking at the table she was sitting at she noted that there were two very different shemlen sitting opposite her, mouths wide open, they had obviously never seen one of the Elvhen before.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare Shem?" she growled at the bigger one, hoping to scare him away.

"Sorry but you're an elf? And a woman?" the big man was obviously astonished.

"Well done Ser Jory, I can see why you're a guard with attention to detail like that!" the littler man laughed.

"Well it's just I didn't know woman were allowed in the grey wardens, especially not elves!" he looked at the little man with anger in his eyes.

"what is that supposed to mean?" the words spoke with such venom that all the anger in the big man's eyes left replaced instantly with fear "you think that because I'm not a stupid shemlen like you I can't fight? I could kill you ten times over before your mind left for the beyond, and a woman? Are all shemlen this stupid or is it just you." she finished off this with a few well-chosen elvish curse words thrown in to sound even scarier. She was delighted to see the big man stutter over his words and excuse himself from the table.

"Thank the maker, I thought he would never leave me alone, it's all glory this and glory that with that man! I'm Daveth, nice to meet you." The little man laughed as he spoke to her. After she told him her name he said "well Lyla I hope that he hasn't spoiled your taste of us recruits just yet, Ser Jory and I are the other two recruits, if you hadn't worked that out already!"

Lyla honestly hadn't even thought that the stupid big man and the shifty small man would be recruits, it made her wary that she was joining an order that would recruit bigoted idiots like Jory.

"Here's a bowl of stew Lyla, I don't know if it's to an elf's taste but if it's not just let know and I'll see if I can find something else for you." alistair placed a bowl in front of her at the table and sat down next to her. "Where did Jory get off to? I need to tell you about the trial we face tomorrow"

"Oh him? Lyla there scared him so bad I think he went to change his undergarments!" daveth laughed as he spoke "he made the mistake of questioning if women or elves were capable of joining the order! And well Lyla warned him that she was at least as capable if not more so than him with one threat" he stopped and tried to mimic her dalish accent "I could kill you ten times over before your mind even left for the beyond! GRRRR" she burst out laughing at the little man's impression, then embarrassment washed over her, a shemlen mocked her and all she did was laugh! What was wrong with her!

"well for a knight he is surprisingly cowardly it would seem, we will have to see if we can find him a big red dress instead maybe a bow, so he can join the woman he thinks he needs to defend!" alistair laughed as he spoke "although Lyla next time could you perhaps not threaten your fellow recruits?"

The rest of the day and night passed quickly as alistair showed her round the make shift camp that was set up in the ruins, stopping every now and then to introduce her to people, a mage woman called Wynne who told her somewhat patronisingly that all have to work together to fight the darkspawn, Lyla scoffed at that and said if she was expected to work with shemlen they would have to treat her with a bit of respect first and walked away.

The next stop was outside of the mabari kennels. The kennel master was shouting and looking very annoyed "hmm I'd hate to lose such a promising member of the breed." Then noticing them approaching "ah Messere Warden could you or your servant here please help me?"

Grabbing the man by the throat Lyla growled "I am not a servant Shem, I am a warden, do well to remember that and treat the flat-ears here with some respect!"

"Lyla down girl!" alistair laughed as he spoke "you can't just threaten everyone even if they did stupidly mistake the heavily armed dalish hunter with a servant girl" once Lyla let go of the man's throat he asked "so what can I do for you Ser?"

Coughing as he rubbed his throat he said "the mabari's last owner died in battle and the hound managed to swallow some blood, I have medicine that could help but I need him muzzled first, could you do that?"

"Why can't you do it yourself shem? You're the kennel master are you not?" Lyla still looked at him with venomous eyes.

"I don't want to get bitten and get the taint, you're a grey warden aren't you, so you are immune, the most you have to worry about are some tooth marks."

Looking into the cage with the mabari in all the anger in her immediately washed away, the look the dog gave her was one of respect, and she was amazed that this animal would give her what no one else here would so she knew she would have to help. "Give me the muzzle fool" grabbing it off him she walking in to the pen.

Speaking in elvish as she approached the dog alistair noticed how her composure changed completely and she was no longer the little angry elf woman but a kind caring one, he was amazed when the dog didn't even attack and just let her muzzle it.

"I hate to ask for more wardens but you aren't heading into the wilds anytime soon are you?" the kennel master asked.

"Yes we are what do you need?" alistair replied, Lyla looked up with interest, so she would be going into the wilds, it was good of him to let her know beforehand.

"Well there's an herb I could use that grows in the marshes around here, if you happen across it and brought it to me it would greatly improve the hound's chances." He flinched as Lyla walked out the pen back to alistair "it's a white flower with a red blooming inside it"

"We will get it shem" Lyla replied and walked off.

As they walked towards the tents they would be staying in a voice cried above the crowd seemingly addressing Lyla. "you Knife-ear where's my bloody armour I sent you for it hours ago, and why are you dressed so preposterously?"

Before alistair could react Lyla had gone from his side running at the man who dared call her that insult. Reaching the man she already had a dagger unsheathed and held it at his throat, cutting it slightly. "I am no servant girl Shem. Do not dare treat me as such, I would kill you here right now if I knew the shiny knight behind me would disapprove and maybe stop me from joining the wardens" with that she turned her knife around and hit him in the face with its pommel. "If I ever hear you call another elf that name I will kill you don't mistake it. Emma Shem'nan" kicking him to the floor she returned to alistair.

"It's always nice to meet the locals isn't it Lyla?" he said unsure whether a joke would make her angrier or calm her down.

"I hate shemlen who treat me like that, if the locals are all like that I dread to think what I will do. I almost killed that one, the next won't be so lucky alistair." She growled but seemed to calm down a bit.

"Well let's hope the word spreads that you are terrifying believe me I will be telling anyone who comes near!" he studied her face as he said this and saw he features soften "and shiny knight? I don't think I have ever been called that before!"

"Well you shouldn't be so shiny then should you?" she laughed as she pointed to his finely polished armour.

"Hah I suppose you have a point. But we have explored the camp enough now, we should go to bed as we have a busy day tomorrow" with that he ushered her into a single tent by the rest of the wardens. "I will come collect you in the morning at first light Lyla."

* * *

_**Authors note**_

_**you may have noticed (or if you havent you will in later chapters) that in my world the humans and elves are a lot more hostile to each other, insults fly between them a lot and hostilities are common, i think this makes more sense though than the indifference they seemed to have to each other in game. the dalish hate the humans and the chantry for pushing them out of the dales and as a dalish warden i can insult every human i meet? how disgusting! this is why i made Cailan insinuate (however subtly) that he almost expected lyla to bed him, in his eyes and most humans elves are second class, not worth the dirt on peoples shoes, so why would he not expect an elf to bed him.**_

_**i dont think i will keep translated every phrase if they have been used so frequently in the last few chapters e.g. hahren or lethallan **_

_**Translations**_

_**Emma Shem'nan - my revenge is swift.**_


	5. Chapter 5- Training With the Shems

_**Author's notes**_

_**In this chapter you'll noticed I have changed Ostagar almost completely from the game, that's because honestly the level always seemed strange to me, you immediately arrive with the master warden and he tells you to find the actual warden and the recruits then go out. The man has never seen you fight and honestly has no more than a slight idea of your abilities, I'd like to think he would at least test the recruits and train them to the standard needed.**_

_**this chapter and the next were originally going to be one but i thought it may be too long, i'm going to try to aim for around 2500-3000 words per chapter from now one, not the random differing lengths I've done so far.**_

* * *

Chapter 5 – Training With the Shems

When he woke up Alistair immediately put his armour on, he always felt so naked without it, he had worn it for so long it was almost like shedding his skin when he took it off to bathe or to sleep. He took his time to get ready as he knew he was in no rush. The trial that the new recruits would go through was not scheduled until after lunch and since the sun had just risen he had all morning to get to know the newest recruit. He wasn't ashamed to admit she scared him a little with her ferocity and hatred for humans but he couldn't blame her for that, if you had told him the day before that he would accept an elf who hated all things human and even be worried about her opinion of him he would have laughed in your face. But the way he saw even his fellow soldiers treat her made him angry for her, and well she was angry enough for herself, as shown when she threatened Jory, a much bigger and much more armoured man. He stopped his thought trail as he was distracted by the thought of her armour. Lyla wore what most female dalish hunters wore, a leather top that was little more than an armoured bra and a leather skirt that barely went halfway down her thighs, that couple with the long leather boots and leather gloves made for a very interesting mental image before Alistair shook his head. He can't think of Lyla like that, she would kill him if she even saw the hint of it in her eyes and well he quite liked living.

Once he had finally gotten dressed and had his morning prayer he went to find the other recruits, Ser Jory was already at the training area swinging his two handed sword at one of the dummies and grunting loudly as he did so. "Jory go get food, we will all be training together soon and I need you ready to fight Lyla" he laughed to himself when he saw Jory's face fill with terror at the idea of taking on the little elf woman, though he didn't blame him if she is any bit as dangerous as he imagined then he would struggle to even get a hit in on her never mind take her down.

He continued walking towards the other recruits tents, he knew that he would find Daveth still asleep, not used to waking up this early as he was not trained by any military, Daveth had been a thief who had been unfortunate enough to cut the purse of Duncan. Duncan had forgiven him however and because he was skilled enough to steal from a grey warden he was saved from arrest by the use of the rite of conscription. Standing outside of Daveth's tent Alistair shouted in "Daveth get up and get food we will be training in 30 minutes" once he heard Daveth replying that he will be there Alistair moved on.

Lyla's tent was only a little way down from the others, Alistair had set it up personally for her once he heard that they were arriving yesterday, he had guessed that she would want to be further away from the group of humans and so made her tent as far away as he could whilst still being in the grey warden compound. He hoped he would not have to wake her though, Daveth was friendly enough that he wouldn't mind being woken but he couldn't imagine that Lyla would have the same reaction. He was pleasantly surprised to see that she was awake and seemed to be meditating outside of her tent facing towards the trees.

"This is the first time I have ever slept outside of a forest." Lyla said as he approached, before he could ask how she knew he was there she turned to him and continued "you know shiny, with all that armour on you make so much noise my clan would have heard you approaching from so far away that we would have been able to load all our camp up and move away before you got close." she laughed as she spoke.

"Good morning Lyla, I'm here to tell you we have a training session in an hour, I need to see how you recruits handle yourself before I can tell you about the trial and what will happen in it. Do you need me to show you around again or are you going to be ok on your own?" he asked politely

"You are a strange human." Lyla remarked "Most humans would insult me or even attack me before ever offering me help, why do you treat me like this? I'm not complaining of course just confused"

"I am a bastard, which is to say I don't have a father, whoever he was didn't want to stay around to raise me I suppose." Alistair spoke very carefully as if choosing his next word. "And well I was raised in Arl Eamon's castle at Redcliffe as a servant boy as my mother was a servant there. So it's hard to treat elves as any different when I've grown up alongside your people and know what it's like to be treated like you."

She stood up at this and walked towards him "You think those flat-ears have it as bad as us Elvhen!" she screamed at him "they abandoned the creators and took up residence in your stinking shemlen cities! They are not true Elvhen. They gave up that right when they submitted to you Shem. We are free elves they are slaves and willingly so." with that she walked off in the direction of the nearest tree and climbed it, shouting down "I will be there in an hour Shem. I look forward to beating you."

Alistair was thoroughly confused, he had tried to show he didn't treat elves any differently that humans and had instead inadvertently insulted her. "Women!" he sighed to himself as he walked in the direction of the food tent.

**-FTDTD-**

When Lyla calmed down she realised how rude she had been to Alistair. "He had just been trying to show he had no prejudices to my people and all I did was scream in his face." She spoke softly to herself in elvish as she felt the shame creep into her. Alistair was nice enough for a shem but he had no experience with a dalish elf, she couldn't fault him for that though, not very many humans had, and the ones that came anywhere near her own camp where killed or scared off before they had a chance to know any Elvhen.

She sat in the same spot for a while before realising she was going to be late for training, she had already managed to insult the nearly every grey warden she had met so she didn't want to seem any more like a useless idiot than she already felt by being late so she rushed off to the training area.

When she finally arrived she say the big man, the shifty man and the shiny knight talking in a corner by some training dummies. As she approached she was delighted to see the big man's face change from the happy face he had on to a terrified scowl when he noticed her, she smiled her most predatory smile as she approached which disappeared as soon as the others turned around. She knew already she was going to enjoy this.

"Ah Lyla thank you for joining us" Alistair spoke very politely but did not manage to look up into her eyes, which was no small feat considering she was almost a head smaller than the man. "Today we will be fighting each other, one on one combat, I will give you each wooden weapons of your own choosing to fight with, and I will take on Jory first." When he finished he turned around and opened the chest he was standing in front of, inside where wooden weapons. Alistair took out a shield and a sword and walked to the duelling arena that had been set up. The big man however chose a big two handed sword that Lyla thought may have even been bigger than herself, she almost regretted threatening the man if he was strong enough to lift a full steel sword that was that big.

Alistair watched as Ser Jory approached him and banged his sword on his shield, however it didn't make the clanging sound he was used to just a dull bang leaving the taunt feeling a little lacklustre.

"Good luck big man I think you may need it!" he heard Lyla call. He found Jory's reaction very interesting however instead of the fear he usually seemed to feel when she was near it was instead anger that flashed across his face. Alistair was suddenly very wary of the man and silently cursed Lyla for enraging him.

"Jory first one to the floor or to fall outside the arena loses. Are you ready?" once he received the acknowledgement in the form of a nod Alistair approached him and attacked, Jory effortlessly parried it out of the way and used the pommel of his weapon to hit Alistair in the face. Feeling dazed it was all Alistair could do to raise his shield in anticipation of the next hit which came almost immediately, knocking Alistair to his backside.

"Hah I was wrong big man, looks like you didn't need it, shiny I am so ashamed of you!" Lyla seemed a lot happier to be training he thought or maybe it was just seeing me get knocked down. But Jory just growled at her and gave a hand to Alistair helping him up.

"Right well, how about Daveth you fight Lyla now? Perhaps you will fare better together and show the camp how grey wardens are meant to fight, unlike me who showed them how to fall." He laughed at his own joke knowing it was terrible and walked to the side-lines noting that whilst Daveth had chosen two wooden daggers, Lyla chose a full sword and a dagger to fight with. "This should be interesting" he said to Jory as they stood and watched.

The fight was over even quicker than his own with Jory, as soon as Daveth attacked Lyla just casually moved out of the way and quickly moved to his back putting her sword and dagger across his throat and calmly said "I win" Daveth just looked dumbfounded as if he couldn't believe the little woman had moved as quickly as she had.

"don't feel bad little man, I am used to training against twin swords, my clan mates used to all use them and I was the best fighter there, I can show you how to fight better after our trial, if you would like?" Lyla spoke with a hint of amusement in her voice as she let the blades fall to her sides and she walked to Alistair and Jory.

"Well I can't say I was expecting you to win Daveth but really that was embarrassing! Do you have no fighting skills?" at this remark Daveth glared at him and told him he could fire a bow much better than his melee fighting. "Well ok sorry if I upset you. Lyla next time could you at least let him last long enough that I can get a rest from my last fight?" Alistair chuckled and then continued "well since you and Jory here seem to be the stronger fighters why don't you see who is the better fighter here?" Jory's face twisted into a smile as he thought about beating this little woman and making her show him the respect he deserved as a knight. Lyla however just looked amused and walked back towards the arena.

"Now this will be fun to watch" Daveth whispered to Alistair as Lyla and Jory nodded heads at each other to say they were ready.

Lyla was worried, she knew she was faster and was probably more skilled than the big man but she had never fought against someone with such a big sword, she realised she would have no chance parrying any attack that he gave her and she would just have to dodge out of the way and wait for an opening. Jory attacked first, a big swing that would have knocked Lyla's head off if the sword was real and if she was still standing in the same place, however Lyla had anticipated the attack and dived to the left rolling back to her feet and running at the big man's back meaning to stab at his legs, but Jory was quicker than she thought and managed to turn around in time to swipe at her arm making it go numb and she dropped her dagger.

She screamed in pain and said "good hit shem, let's see if you can do it again" then stabbed her single sword at Jory's side, smiling when he screamed out knowing she had caused him a great deal of pain, she span and ran to her dagger and picked it back up.

"Look elf, I will beat you, I beat every knight that I fought in the tournament to get my place here, what's one little knife-eared bitch compared to the best trained knights at highever?" Jory spat in disgust at her, which she ignored as all she felt now was the bloodlust that she had craved.

"Oh no Jory's in for a world of pain now." Alistair whispered to Daveth, then told him the story of how she had almost killed a merchant for insulting her and how she had moved quicker than he could see when it happened.

Almost to prove Alistair right she roared and ran at Jory quicker than the big man had ever seen anyone move but at the last second she darted off to the right and went straight past him, before he could turn around however he felt her jump on her back with her twin blades crossed across his throat. "look shem, you may be big, you may be strong but I promised you I would kill you quicker than your stupid brain could think, did you honestly think I would make that threat to someone so much bigger to me and not be able to back it up?" she was whispering in his ear so that the others wouldn't hear her threats. "I killed a darkspawn bear with that move, do you think any of your Shem knights could take on a corrupted bear single handed and walk away untouched? I don't think so. You Shem are so stupid." She spat at the floor with this comment and added "I don't like you big Shem if you insult me one more time I will gut you so fast you will not even notice you had died." With that she dropped off his back and proudly shouted to Alistair "I win shiny! What's my prize?"

"Well how about some food before we go and find Duncan?" Alistair smiled as he saw her walk towards him with a bounce in her step, obviously very proud of herself. Then he noticed the look on Jory's face, complete and utter terror. 'He mustn't have been expected her to be so talented' Alistair thought to himself. "Duncan can tell you what your trial is."


	6. Chapter 6 - The Wilds and the Witch

**_Author's note_**

**_i said when i first started this story that i would have the first 5 chapters up this weekend and then two a week from then on but honestly right now i am really enjoying writing so i will submit one a day until that changes or until i hit writers block. please remember to review, follow or favourite, it would help me know that people are actually enjoying this._**

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Chapter 6 – The Wilds and the Witch

A lone raven flew above the war camp, watching as a little elf woman managed to lead a group of much bigger stronger men through it, it landed on a wall and watched as the group approached the guard at the gate to the wilds.

"Shem, we have business in the wilds, let us through." The little elf said, gesturing to the men following her. "We are on important grey warden business and I don't want to stay around all you Shem any longer than I need so hurry it up and open that gate."

"An elf grey warden? Now I've seen it all" the raven heard the guard mutter to himself as he opened the gate. "The gates open for you, just be careful, the forests not safe for anyone tonight, not even a warden."

The elf girl scoffed and walked past him, whilst the three following gave him an apologetic look, it was interesting to see the command this elf had over them. The knight closest to her had the crest of the grey wardens on his shield. 'How interesting to see the warden be so subservient to an elf, and a woman at that." The raven thought to itself as it flew past them. 'It should be interesting to see how they fare in my forest.'

The bird continued watching them as they fought their way past a wolf pack, the elf fought with such grace that she didn't even seem to acknowledge the wolfs, they were just bystanders in this deadly dance she was performing. The men with her stopped and watched after they killed the wolf attacking them, they were in awe of the little woman.

"If you keep staring at me and not at the enemy Shems I will be forced to kill you myself." The elf spoke as she span and stabbed a wolf in the back of its head. With that comment the group of men seemed to shake themselves out of whatever trance they were in and continued the attack. The wolfs fell quickly and the elf smiled to herself and spoke "I am very flattered that you would risk death to stare at me but seriously shems we don't have time for me to beat each one of you so next time please just fight. Now shiny which way do we go?" she looked at the shield bearing knight.

"Once we get to the bottom of the hill we should be able to see the ruins Duncan told us about, the treaties should be there Lyla." The knight bent down to inspect the wolfs as he spoke but the elf didn't even seem to hear what he said and instead was looking around as if she had heard something else.

The elf's eyes followed the treetops around her until her eyes rested upon the raven. They stopped and looked at it for long enough for the raven to get nervous and fly off. 'Does she know what I am? Elves have much better eyesight than humans but surely I look just like a normal raven.' The raven though to itself at it flew to the floor. Hidden in the trees a light surrounded the raven and in one breath it had changed from a bird to a white wolf. The wolf sniffed at the floor and ran towards the ruined tower.

**-FTDTD-**

'That raven didn't seem quite right, I am sure I have seen something like that before' Lyla thought to herself as she watched the raven fly off. Lost in her thoughts she suddenly realised someone was talking to her.

".. Bottom of the hill we should be able to see the ruins Duncan told us about, the treaties should be there Lyla." Shiny looked up at her from his crouched position and smiled. "Don't forget we need to find some darkspawn and collect their blood as well."

"urgh, how could I forget, I hope we aren't collecting this so Duncan can bathe in it or something equally strange, still we need it to complete the trial I suppose, let's keep moving." Lyla gestured for Alistair to walk next to her and the other two to walk behind them. Once he was close enough that she could speak to him privately she said "Shiny I am very sorry for shouting at you earlier, I'm not used to shemlen trying to talk to me in anyway nicely so I assumed you saying I was like the flat-ears you are used to be meant as an insult. Thinking on that though I realised you would have had no way to know that's how a dalish would take it." She smiled at him as she spoke.

"It's no problem Lyla, I know it must be difficult for you, you've left your family and are thrust into a world full of strangers most of whom are incredibly rude to you, I'd be surprised if I didn't upset you at least a few times. As long as I don't have to done some dalish frolicking to make it up to you I think we will be ok." He tried to speak with a straight face but his delight at making a joke swam through his face.

"Hmmm I don't think I want to see you frolic anyway shiny, the dalish dance naked and I don't think I would be able to recognise you without that armour on." Lyla laughed as she spoke. "I must admit all you humans look the same to me, I only recognise you by your armour and those two by how different they are in height. I am a little embarrassed to ask but." She paused and looked down as if to hide her shame. "What is your name? I've forgotten it and the other two shem with us."

Alistair laughed at this statement. "You've forgotten my name? Oh the shame of it, I'm afraid I will never be able to forgive you for that!" the sarcasm oozed through his voice but Lyla didn't pick up on it and looked up at him with panic in her eyes. "Relax Lyla I'm joking, I'm Alistair, you can ask me my name as many times as you like, you aren't the first person to forget it. The bigger man is Ser Jory and the other is Daveth." He smiled to her as he spoke hoping to relax her.

"Ma serannas Falon. I promise it won't happen again." Lyla looked ahead as she replied and saw a man near death lying on the ground. She ran towards him in case he required help but he saw her approach and spoke out.

"Who. Is. That? Grey wardens?" the man struggled as he spoke, pausing after each word to take a painful breath.

"Well he's not as dead as he looks is he?" Alistair chuckled as he approached.

"My scouting band was attacked by darkspawn" the dying man whispered.

"Here I have bandages in my pack" Alistair bent down to mend the man. "Now go back to camp and get the mages to heal you Serah."

"Did you hear? A whole group of seasoned warriors taken out by the darkspawn? What hope do we four have?" Ser Jory looked terrified as he spoke looking at the others for confirmation of his fears, seeing no fear in the other eyes he looked even more dismayed and bowed his head. "I'm no coward but this is reckless and foolish we should go back"

"Are all shemlen this cowardly or are you a special case?" Lyla looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm not a coward! You don't see me fleeing do you?" came Jory's harsh reply.

"A bit of fear is natural, few relish the chance to see darkspawn up close, and I know I don't." Alistair smiled at Jory trying to make him feel a little braver.

"Am I the only man here? I was right all shemlen are cowards!" Lyla looked at Alistair with glee in her eyes. "I can't wait to sink my blade into every darkspawn I meet, they must be sent back to the banalthan."

"Hah well I know I'm relying on you to protect me" his voice full of humour. "Know this Jory, all grey wardens can sense darkspawn around them, whatever their cunning we will not be taken by surprise." His voice changed to extremely serious as he spoke.

"You see Ser knight, we may be killed but at least we know it will come." Daveth slapped Jory on the shoulder at this comment. Lyla walked through the group and continued on.

"Alistair, is that the flower the kennel master was asking for?" Lyla asked pointing to a white flower on the side of the path, when she heard his affirmative she reached down and plucked it, putting it into her pack, she would not let this beautiful dog suffer.

"Shush, I can sense darkspawn down the road, seems to be five or so of them." Alistair readied his weapon and looked to Lyla for his orders.

"Right I will take the ones at the back, Alistair you attack any big ones that are there. Daveth shoot the ones I ignore and Jory see if you can defend Daveth without wetting your undergarments. Let's move out." Lyla took delight in seeing Jory's face fill with anger at her comment, she secretly hoped he would attack her soon, the sooner she was rid of his horrible presence the better.

The fight against the darkspawn was swift. Lyla dodged past the first two darkspawn without breaking her stride and dived onto the small archer stabbing it in the face, she got up and turned around and noted Alistair had already killed a big one by chopping its head of and Jory had yet to move from Daveth's side. Her momentary lapse of concentration however nearly proved to be fatal as a darkspawn ran at her trying to gut her, before she had a chance to attack an arrow hit it in the back of its head taking it down. Alistair hit the last creature with his shield knocking it to the floor and immediately stabbed it in the neck.

"Oh well done Jory, I'm so very proud of you." Lyla struggled to keep the venom out of her voice at this statement, she was disgusted that the man didn't even join in the fight. "You didn't even wet yourself!" Jory just growled at her and bent down to fill his vial with the darkspawn blood so she and Daveth did the same.

**-FTDTD-**

The wolf had made it to the ruins easily, the darkspawn ignored such a creature if it didn't come to close, and the wolf didn't get close enough for them to even smell it. Standing in a dark area of the circular ruins it noted that the only chest left had been smashed open. 'This must have been the ruins mother spoke of, I assume that whatever was in the chest she now has back at our hut.' The wolf thought.

After a while, its train of thoughts were disturbed by the sound of fight outside. It looked out and saw the elf woman and her band of useless humans were fighting the darkspawn outside making their way to the ruins. The wolf hid in a corner not wanting to be mistaken for a darkspawn by a hapless idiotic man and waited for the group to approach.

**-FTDTD-**

As they approached the bridge leading to the ruined grey warden keep Lyla saw a lone big darkspawn standing in the middle of it. "Do they really think we are that stupid?" she scoffed. "It's obviously a trap, look at the floor at the end of the bridge, covered in bear traps. Who would fall for that?"

Alistair lowered his head a little at that statement, he hadn't spotted the traps and had simply hoped that the lone darkspawn was just that, alone. Feeling slightly embarrassed he looked around hoping to find something he hadn't spotted before and saw a genlock hiding in the tall grass to the groups left, with a shout he ran at it stabbing it through with one swift motion. At the sight of that the lone Darkspawn fire a spell at them causing them to dive out of the way.

Lyla ran after the darkspawn as it retreated across the bridge cursing elvish as she did so, the fireball it had fired at them had just caught her. Burning her leg badly but she couldn't let it bother her right now. She caught up to the darkspawn stabbing it in the back easily but as it fell she saw the group it was leading them too. 4 big darkspawn stood there sounding almost like they were laughing at the sight of one little elf ready to fight them, with a gulp she ran at the first hoping her group would catch up quick enough to help.

Jory hated the elf but saw that she was about to be attacked from behind, he roared as loud as he could to distract the darkspawn, hoping his taunt would make the creature attack him. It turned around and ran at him with no grace and stupidly impaled itself on Jory's sword. The rest of the darkspawn fell quickly after that mistake.

Looking at the bodies of the soldiers surrounding her Lyla noted one of them had a bag of ashes in his pouch and a letter. Upon reading it she saw the legend of a foolish Shem girl who loved a demon, killing her betrothed to satisfy it. She also saw a hastily scribbled note at the bottom saying how it was real and scattering the ashes in the bag she had in the right place would grant her a wish. "We have to scatter these ashes." She said to the group, the tone of her voice left no room for questions from them as she walked to where the note said to scatter them.

She lightly covered the rock mound with the ashes and honestly expected nothing to happen but suddenly she heard a voice behind them. "Who summons Gazerath from slumber?" a demon had been summoned behind them and moved to attack the group.

Alistair was the first to react using his Templar training to damage the demon enough for Jory to stab it through with his sword. Upon slaying it a great sword and some boots fell to the floor.

"Jory do you want that sword?" Alistair asked looking at him and without a word Jory dropped the one he was carrying and picked it up. "These boots have little armour in them however Lyla, they look to be suited for a mage."

"So this was a waste of time? Bah you can't even rely on demons these days" Lyla muttered as she walked past them and towards the ruined tower.

The fight to the tower was long and bloody, Jory took an arrow to the leg as they approached and Daveth a big gash on his arm but he insisted it was nothing and simply bandaged it and kept going, upon entering the ruins Lyla noticed a wolf in the corner of the room, she felt the same sense of familiarity as she did when she had spotted the raven before, why did she feel as though she had seen these creatures before?

Her thought interrupted as a bright light shone from the centre of the wolf engulfing it completely as it transformed into a beautiful raven haired woman. "Well, well what have we here? Are you a vulture I wonder? A scavenger poking amidst a corpse whose bones were long since cleaned?" the woman walked towards the group acknowledging Lyla as the leader. "Or merely an intruder. Come into these darkspawn filled wilds of mine in search of easy prey?" she stopped mere feet in front of Lyla. "What say you, hmm? Scavenger or intruder?"

"I am neither, the grey wardens once owned this tower." Came Lyla's reply, she was surprised to see the wolf change but now she knew why she recognised it, the wolf was Asha'belannar's pet, or at least she had thought it was when the witch visiting the clan, now she was not so sure.

"T'is a tower no longer, the wilds have claimed this desiccated corpse." As she spoke the woman walked past the group to stand by a broken chest. "I have watched your progress for some time. 'Where do they go' I wondered 'why are they here?' and now you disturb ashes that have not been touched for so long. Why is that?"

"Don't answer her she looks chasind and that means others may be nearby." Alistair spoke as he walked to Lyla's side.

"Oooh you fear barbarians will swoop down upon you?" the witch struggled to keep the humour from her voice as she spoke.

"Yes. Swooping is bad." Came Alistair's reply, Lyla suppressed a giggle at the strange conversation taking place in front of her.

"She's a witch of the wilds she is! She'll turn us into toads!" the fear in Daveth's voice apparent as he spoke.

"Witch of the wilds, such idle fancies those legends, have you no mind of your own? You there." The witch looked at Lyla now. "Woman do not frighten as easily as little boys, tell me your name and I will tell you mine."

"Andaran Atish'an I am Lyla Mahariel, nice to meet you." Lyla did not want to offend anyone that Asha'balannar knew.

"Now that is a proper civil greeting even in the wilds! You may call me Morrigan." The woman smiled at Lyla as she spoke. "Shall I guess your purpose you sought something in this chest, something that is here no longer?"

"Here no longer? You stole them didn't you? You're… some kind of… Sneaky… Witch thief!" Lyla laughed out loud at this, earning a glare from Alistair.

"How very eloquent. How does one steal from dead men?"

"Quite easily it seems. Those documents are grey warden property and I suggest you return them." Alistair spoke with such venom that Lyla could feel his anger from her place next to him.

"Alistair don't threaten her, she is obviously quite powerful and I suspect connected to a powerful woman my people call Asha'balannar." She noted Morrigan's surprised face as she spoke. "Morrigan do you know where the documents are?"

"T'was my mother who removed them, she no doubt still has them."

"Your mother? Could you take us to her?" Lyla asked politely.

"A sensible request, I like you." Morrigan replied.

"I'd be careful, first its 'I like you' then ZAP frog time." Alistair spoke so calmly Lyla struggled to tell if he was joking or not.

"She'll put us all in the pot she will" Daveth's fear was almost humorous to Lyla as she noted the friendly woman he was scared of.

"If the pots warmer than this forest, it'll be a nice change" Jory said to Daveth.

"Follow me then if it pleases you" Morrigan turned and walked off without waiting for a reply.

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_**Author's note**_

_**they dalish clan know of asha'balannar in DA2 it makes sense that Lyla would recognise her and if she was visiting the clan i doubt she would have left Morrigan by herself so that's why Lyla recognises Morrigan's wolf form. i liked the idea that Morrigan wouldn't want to be see by the elves and would instead act as a pet of her mother than just walk in.**_

_**Translations**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you**_

_**Falon – friend. It is similar to Lethallan but it doesn't mean as close a friend as that.**_

_**Banalthan – the blight/where the blight comes from**_

_**Asha'balannar- the elvish name for Flemeth, it means woman of many years.**_

_**Andaran Atish'an – a formal greeting**_


	7. Chapter 7 - Joining

_**Author's notes**_

_**Here's the newest chapter, you will notice a lot of changes from the game here but I think it's necessary for the world I'm trying to create. There's a hell of a lot of dialogue in this chapter but i couldn't see any way around that, next chapter will be much more action filled so look forward to that.**_

_**I would really appreciate if some let some reviews though, let me know where I'm going right and where I am going wrong! **_

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Chapter 7 – Joining

The route Morrigan used to lead them to her mother was very strange. She would often stop at a tree and walk in a random direction only to reach the next and walk in another direction, Lyla was starting to suspect that she was having fun letting them get lost when she heard Morrigan cry out.

"Mother we have guests. I have found four grey wardens who…" Morrigan was immediately interrupted as they walked into a clearing.

"I see them girl. Hmm not what I expected." An old woman was standing in front of a hut and some farmland.

"Are we to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked not even attempting to mask the doubt in his voice.

"You are required to do nothing, least of all believe. Shut one's eyes tight or open arms open, either way ones a fool." The woman replied sternly.

"She's a witch I tell you, we shouldn't be talking to her." Daveth still sounded like the scared little boy he was in front of Morrigan

"Quiet Daveth, if she's really a witch do you want to make her mad?" Jory whispered to him.

"Smart boy, a shame that counts for nothing in the larger scheme of things. Believe what you will." The woman turned her attention to Lyla now and continued. "What about you, does your elven mind give you a different view on things? What do you believe?"

"Andaran Atish'an Asha'balannar" Lyla was terrified to have this woman's eye upon her. "I don't think it matters what I think, some things are just to be accepted for what they are" She hoped she had not just offended the witch, it would really not do to be turned into a toad just before she became a warden.

"Aha there's the answer I was hoping for, it's so nice to have an open mind before me, not one that has been turned to mush." The woman looked upon Alistair as she said that. "So much about you is uncertain, yet I believe… do I? Why yes, I do!" even Morrigan looked at her mother with a strange look in her eye at this statement.

"So this is a dreaded witch of the wilds?" Alistair sounded like he was about to laugh at any minute, an idea that seemed scarier to Lyla than the whole darkspawn horde.

"quiet shem, this is Asha'balannar, show respect" Lyla whispered whilst quickly looked at the old woman to see if she had heard her, thankfully she either hadn't or chose to ignore her.

"Witch of the wilds, hah, Morrigan must have told you that, she fancies such tales though she would never admit it, oh how she dances under the moon." Morrigan looked as if she was about to offer resistance to that accusation but quickly decided not to.

"Oh is that anything like the dalish frolicking Lyla?" Alistair laughed as he spoke and the old woman joined in.

"I don't think they came to hear your wild tales mother" Morrigan spoke as a blush ran across her face.

"True, you came for your treaties, yes? And before you begin barking your precious seals wore off long ago. I have protected them." The woman spoke as she disappeared into her hut. Appearing moments later with the treaties in her hand.

"You." Alistair started angrily, then after his brain caught up and he realised what she had said he calmed and continued. "You protected them?"

"And why not? Take them to your grey wardens and tell them this blights threat is greater than they realise"

"Ma serannas, but somehow I doubt they will listen to this little knife-ear." Lyla tried to keep the anger out of her voice as she took the treaties from her.

"Do not worry child, your people will have a greater role in this than you realise, one of the treaties is for them to help in the war effort, I'm sure that will greatly improve the humans opinion." The old woman smiled kindly at her upon saying this.

"You have what you came for now you can go" Morrigan ordered.

"Oh don't be silly girl, these are your guests, show them back to their camp" the old woman voice left no room for Morrigan to question her.

"Very well, follow me" Morrigan said as she started in the direction they had arrived in.

"Dareth shiral Asha'balannar" Lyla bowed her head to the old woman and followed Morrigan out, motioning to the men to follow her.

**-FTDTD-**

Night had fell by the time they finally saw the ruins of Ostagar where the war camp was housed in Alistair couldn't help but whisper a thanks to Andraste.

"Fool, praying to a prophet that your chantry burned and to a god that has turned his back on you not once but twice." Morrigan scoffed and turned away to walk back to her hut.

"I like her." Lyla said, suppressing a giggle at Morrigan's description of the chantry. "She's not wrong though I'll never understand you Shems and your beliefs. Come lets go find Duncan." She walked towards the gates without waiting for an answer from the stunned men.

Walking through the gates she immediately looked for Duncan and was surprised to see he had not moved since they left earlier that day. 'He couldn't have been standing there the whole time could he?' she asked herself 'surely the warden-commander has more important thing to do?'

"Ah child you have returned, were you successful?" Duncan asked as she approached, moving away from the bonfire and motioning the group to stand closer to it.

"We have Hahren." Lyla replied and was grateful that she could stand near the warm fire, it had gone very cold now and dalish armour did little to protect against that.

"Good, I've had the circle mages preparing. With the blood you have recovered we should be able to begin the joining right away." Duncan gestured for them to walk towards the warden camp now.

"Was our trial not enough? What is this ritual Warden-Commander?" Lyla didn't have to turn to know that it was Jory who asked this question, the man was a coward through and through.

"All will be revealed in due time Ser knight. We will speak of it when we are in the privacy of our compound." Duncan sternly shut down any more questions.

"There was a woman at the tower and her mother had the scrolls. They were both very…. Odd." Alistair spoke quietly as if afraid any of the passing soldiers would hear them.

"Where they wilder folk?" Duncan asked.

"I don't think so, they looked like apostates, and the daughter had the ability to change shape." Before waiting for Duncan's reply however Lyla had spotted the kennel master and excused herself to talk to him saying she would catch up with the group.

"Here is the herb you require Shem, try to save this dog, I fear we will need him in the coming battle." She walked past the man immediately after giving him the herb and walked to the pen with the dog in. speaking in her elvish tongue now she spoke softly to the animal "my friend, are you ok?" the dog let out a happy bark seemingly telling her he was ok.

"Don't lie to me friend, I can tell you are hurting. But you are a proud one aren't you?" she laughed and continued." I would be honoured to have you fight at my side friend. Get well and find me in the battle." She waited for an excited bark from the mabari and walked away, almost running to catch up with the group of wardens she was with.

She caught up just as they were walking into the tent where the ritual would take place.

"Child I was wondering if you were going to make it, I was about to ask Alistair to run off and find you." Duncan smiled and continued. "Now I will go get the required items. Alistair stay here with our recruits.

"The more I hear about this joining the less I like about it." Jory was whining again as soon as Duncan left the room.

"Are you blubbering again?" Daveth spoke probably letting more anger into his voice than he meant, it seemed even he had had enough of Jory.

"Why all these damn tests? Have I not earned my place?"

"Maybe its tradition. Maybe they're just trying to annoy you."

"By the creators I am the bravest one here and I'm a woman! Jory why did you even want to join the wardens if all you do is complain about every decision they make?" Lyla was exasperated with the man now,

"There is a lot of glory to be won fighting as a warden." He shot daggers with his eyes at Lyla. "I have a wife and a child on the way, if they had warned me there was this many tests… it just doesn't seem fair."

"You left your pregnant wife alone?" Lyla growled. "Are all shem this cruel or just you?" she shook her head and walked off to the other side of the tent cursing in elvish.

"Jory would you have come if they warned you? Maybe that's why they don't? The wardens do what they must right?" Daveth ignored Lyla's anger which was probably wise.

"Including sacrificing us?" 'Mythal protect us! If that's the new wardens we are all doomed' Lyla thought as she heard Jory speak.

"I'd sacrifice a lot more if I thought it would stop the blight Ser knight."

"Will you both just shut up? Creators damn me if I am forced to listen to you two prattle on any more." Lyla had lost all patience now and just wanted Duncan to get here so she could go climb a tree and think. Jory and Daveth just looked at her and decided it was probably for the best that they kept quiet.

"At last to the joining." Duncan spoke as he walked into the tent. "The grey wardens were founded during the first blight. When humanity stood on the verge of annihilation." He placed the great bowl he was carrying down on the table placed in the centre of the tent. "So it was that the first grey wardens drank the darkspawn blood and mastered their taint."

"We're going to drink their blood? The disgusting creature's blood?" Jory's face had fallen into pure fear.

"As the first grey wardens did before us and as we did before you. This is the source of our power and of our victory." He walked towards them.

"Those who survive the joining are immune to the taint, we can sense it in the darkspawn and use it to slay the archdemon." Alistair stood tall and turned to face the group, standing beside Duncan.

"Let's get on with it then." Lyla stood from the corner she was sitting in and stood by Daveth's side.

"We speak only a few words before the ceremony but these words have been said since the first. Alistair if you would?" Duncan turned around and dipped a chalice in the bowl, filling it with the blood.

"Join us. Brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn and should you perish know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten and that one day we will join you." Alistair bowed his head as he spoke, his voice almost mournful.

"Daveth. Step forward" Duncan commanded. Placing the chalice in Daveth's grasp. Daveth only took a moments hesitation and immediately downed the drink. He passed it back to Duncan and turned to face his comrades when suddenly he bent over and screamed in pain, Jory jumped back and squealed. Daveth hit the floor and stopped screaming holding his throat and finding Lyla's face. It scared her to note that his eyes were pure white not the amber they should have been. Daveth finally collapsed dead on the floor.

"I am sorry Daveth" Duncan spoke as he fell. "Step forward. Jory."

Drawing his sword and backing away Jory spoke with panic in his voice "I… I have a wife. A child. Had I known."

"There is no turning back." Duncan spoke across him as if not listening to Jory's protests.

"No. you ask too much" pointing his sword at Duncan. "There is no glory in this." Duncan put the chalice on the table and drew his dagger. Expertly parrying the attack of Jory as he approached and stabbing him in the gut, killing him almost instantly.

"I am sorry Jory." Turning to face Lyla he continued. "But the joining is not complete. Lyla step forward."

"As you wish Hahren." Lyla knew better than to try and back out now. If she didn't go through with this ritual she would be dead from the taint anyway, she had nothing to lose. "Wish me luck"

Taking the chalice off the table she downed the whole thing as quickly as she could. She barely managed to place it back down before her mind filled with pain and white spots appeared on her vision. 'Oh no. Falon'dir guide me.' was the last thing she thought as she fell and lost consciousness.

**-FTDTD-**

A bright light appeared and Lyla thought she may finally be in the beyond with her parents until she saw the shemlen looking at her. It took her a moment to realise who they were. Duncan her new Commander and Alistair he newest Comrade.

"It is finished. Welcome." Duncan spoke softly as he crouched next to her and offered her a hand.

"Two more deaths. In my joining only one of us died. It was. Horrible. I am glad at least you survived Lyla." Alistair spoke with more compassion in his voice than Lyla had ever assumed to hear from a Shem. Perhaps she had grossly underestimated the man.

"How do you feel child?" Duncan asked her as she made her way to her feet.

"As if I had just gone through my vallaslin ceremony." When she saw the confusion on the men's faces she explained. "My head really hurts."

"Ah that is to be expected, Alistair go and get her a poultice from the mages please." Alistair ran out of the tent with such haste she thought he might have fallen. "Did you have dreams child?"

"Yes Hahren, I saw a great dragon roaring at me, it was horrifying." Lyla shuddered at the memory of it.

"Ah the archdemon, let us hope you never have to see it child." As he spoke Alistair rushed back into the tent.

"Here you go Lyla, this should help with the pain, and ease your mind from your dreams, and mine were terrible." Alistair gave a shudder as he remembered his dreams as well.

"Ma serannas Falon." Lyla took the drink gratefully and brought it to her lips.

"Now if you two stay here, Alistair I need you to look after her whilst I go speak with the king, he has requested my presence for the battle planning tonight." With that Duncan left.

"Lyla, what does Ma serannas Falon mean? You've said it to me twice now." Alistair asked as he sat on the floor leaning his back on the table leg.

"It means thank you friend." Lyla spoke quickly and returned to her poultice to finish it off.

"Friend?! Well I never thought I'd hear that from you, I'm not sure I like it." Alistair chuckled as he laughed.

"We can go back to shem if you'd prefer?" she laughed along with him, when he looked puzzled at that she explained it as well. "It comes from Shemlen, which means quick child, it is our word for humans, though it has devolved in more of an insult akin to calling me knife-ears." She smiled at him whilst explaining.

"Hmmm I'm not sure, they are both so appealing, I just can't decide which I prefer."

"Perhaps I should call you felaslen? That means slow child, I think that suits you more." She stuck her tongue at him as she spoke. "Yes Felas is your new name!"

"Oh thank you so much!" Alistair tried to sound upset but the smile on his face betrayed his true emotion.

Lyla was thoroughly confused by the whole situation, if you had told her a month earlier that she would be sitting with a shemlen making jokes and actually starting to like him she would have killed you where you stood but now, she was happy for the first time since leaving her clan. 'How long can that last?' she wondered to herself.

* * *

_**Author's note**_

_**I never really understood why the king requested the warden's presence to be honest, I could maybe grasp it if you are a Cousland but anyone else and it's just strange. As if the king of ferelden would want a dalish elf there, I know Cailen seems to be without prejudice but still there would be an enormous amount of pressure on him from his staff, mainly Loghain, to not let a literally brand new grey warden in anyway. This is why I sent Duncan on his own to the meeting.**_

_**Translations**_

_**Andaran Atish'an – a formal greeting**_

_**Asha'balannar – woman of many years, elvish word for Morrigan's mother**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you**_

_**Dareth shiral – farewell (literally safe journey)**_

_**Hahren – elder**_

_**Mythal – elven goddess- the great protector**_

_**Falon'dir – friend of the dead (another elven god)**_

_**Falon – friend**_

_**Felaslen – slow child**_

_**Felas - slow**_


	8. Chapter 8 - Taking the Tower

_**Author's note**_

_**Here we go, the first real fight for our wardens to face. I've never really described battle before so I hope the way I wrote it makes sense. **_

* * *

Chapter 8 – Taking the Tower

Alistair and Lyla sat in the tent just talking for what seemed like hours, Alistair had never really had the chance to be this close to Lyla before and was trying to admire her face tattoos without her noticing. _'They really were beautiful' _he thought to himself, he was amazed to see the swirls flowing around her eyes and forming the shape of leaves above her eyebrows, which then seamlessly flowed into an arrow head in the middle of her brow. He noticed a small dagger forming in a separate pattern stemming from the left side of her nose and flowing down to under her chin.

"Like what you see Felas?" Alistair couldn't tell whether Lyla was angry or amused with him, why did he struggle with woman so much?

"I've just been thinking about your tattoos Lyla, is there a meaning to them?" Alistair tore his gaze away from her as he spoke, too ashamed that he had been caught staring to look at her.

"They aren't tattoos Falon" she paused for a long time and Alistair was about to apologise for insulting her once again when she suddenly continued. "They are my Vallaslin, I think the translation would be blood writing. Each Elvhen must design their own pattern influenced by a creator as part of the Melana'Him ritual." She paused again and asked. "Do you want to know which creators I chose for mine?"

Alistair didn't know what to say so he just nodded silently and listened to her explain that she had drawn it up to show the parts of her that she loved. The swirls making a mask around her eyes and ending in the leaves on her brow were dedicated to Dirthamen, the keeper of secrets, to remind her that her thoughts are her own and not to be shown to anyone. The arrow head in the top of her brow which stemmed from this however was dedicated to Andruil, goddess of the hunt, this was because even before she had matured she was already a formidable hunter and she knew that she would be the best. The final pattern was the dagger, or Dar'Misu, flowing from her nose to her chin, this was for Elgar'nan the god of vengeance but she said the story for that was private and she would not tell him.

"Lyla wow, I don't know what to say, that's so beautiful, knowing the story behind your face makes it that much harder to look away." He blushed as he realised what he said and quickly looked away again. "Wait" he was desperate to change the subject before she had a chance to think on what he just said. "Didn't you say that your head hurt like the Vallaslin ceremony? What did you mean?"

"when an Elvhen is ready to mature they must go through the ceremony and get the vallaslin imprinted on their face. This must be done in complete silence, any sound and the keeper will decide you aren't ready for the pain that is to live as a dalish." Pain washed through her eyes as she spoke. "That was the single most painful experience of my life, the tears flowed that fast down my face that Master Ilen had to stop and dry my eyes before continuing, the shame of it made the tears stop however and it only took him another day to complete."

Before they could continue talking Duncan returned to the tent and informed the duo that they alone would be going to the tower of Ishal at the far edge of the camp and to wait for a signal to light the beacon.

"What! I'm not going to be in the battle?" the anger in Alistair's voice barely help as he stood to his full height in defiance of his commander.

"This is by personal request of the king Alistair, you will not question his orders."

"Personal request of the king? Maker be damned why must he coddle me?!" Alistair swore at the ground.

"Stop you're whining, Felas, we have an important job." Lyla shook her head at Alistair as she spoke and walked towards Duncan. "Ma nuvenin Hahren."

"I get it, I get it. Just so you know if the king ever asks me to put on a dress and dance the remigold I'm drawing the line. Darkspawn or no." Alistair's voice had so much conviction in it Lyla wasn't sure whether this was something the shemlen king was likely to do or not.

"I don't know Felas, I think it would be a very effective distraction. It may be better than the plan the king has already come up with." She struggled to keep the image of Alistair dancing down the lines of the darkspawn out of her head and continued. "Hahren, do you think we could hold an emergency meeting and discuss this new plan?"

"Child I appreciate the joke but now is not the time." Duncan shot her down immediately. "The darkspawn are coming and will be here within the hour. You know your duty, do your jobs." With this he turned to walk out.

"Duncan, May the maker watch over us, old friend." Alistair nodded at Duncan who said the same back.

"Creators I hope not, I'd take Andruil any day." Lyla muttered to herself to the amusement of the men.

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla charged at the darkspawn around the tower, dodging out of the way of the first genlock to attack her and cutting its hand off with one swipe, it didn't notice and tried to attack her with the sword not realising that the hand that held it was no longer there. It did notice however when its throat was pierced with her dagger. She looked towards Alistair to see if he had caught up and was relieved to see he had already slain the first darkspawn he reached and was duelling the second. His shield effortlessly bouncing the genlock's attacks off and he expertly used the momentum to stab his sword through the monsters middle. Lyla's attention was brought quickly back to the battle as an arrow flew inches past her left ear, turning she saw a genlock with a crossbow that was nearly the size of the small creature holding it. It was standing upon a wooden tower that had been hastily built to hold the kings archers as garrison but was obviously ineffective as they all lay dead before it.

Without thinking she dropped her blades and drew her bow, effortlessly notching an arrow and pulling back the string. She took a deep breath and time seemed to slow down as she aimed and released the arrow. She whispered "be proud Tamlen" in her elven tongue as the arrow flew straight into the creature's eye, killing it quickly.

"There's soldiers alive further up Lyla, let's hurry!" Alistair shouted and ran straight past her, for a man in full heavy armour he was fast when he needed to be. But that was no match for the natural agility and speed of the elves and Lyla sprinted past him jumping over the first genlock she saw and carrying on to the larger darkspawn attacking the soldiers.

Alistair almost stopped and stared as he say the elf jump the creature, who was nearly her height, easily clearing its head by a foot. The genlock seemed to be just as shocked and turned to see what had happened to the woman. Alistair wasted no time and took the opportunity to behead the disgusting monster. Sprinting to catch up to his fellow warden he stopped only to help up the soldiers that were still alive. "No time to explain, we are grey wardens. We need to take this tower back, pick up arms and follow us!" and ran off not waiting to see if they listened to his orders.

Lyla reached the base of the tower and was immediately regretting running ahead alone, she saw three smaller darkspawn that she had come to know as Genlock looking at her with a predatory smile, and there was two taller creatures known as Hurlocks running for her. She noted that one of the Hurlocks wore armour and realised that must be the leader of this group of creatures.

"Ar tu na'lin emma me" _I will see your blood on my blade_. "ma halem" _you are finished_, she screamed at the creatures as she ran, sliding between the open legs of the unarmoured Hurlock, hacking at its leg as she went, hearing it scream and fall as she past brought a grin to her face and she quickly got to her feet and ran at the next genlock. She stopped short of it and immediately changed targets as she saw an arrow pierce its throat, _'ah some shem are still fighting then'_ she thought and carried on to the next genlock.

Alistair finally arrived and drove his sword through the chest of the downed Hurlock and ran to the Alpha, it saw him coming and swung its blade wildly at him, the beast did not lack ferocity but it did lack discipline something Alistair had perfected in his training as a Templar. He merely shielded himself and waited for the creature to make a mistake, which came quickly as it tried to slash at his throat, he ducked down and swiftly brought his sword back up through the unarmoured jaw of the creature killing it instantly, as it fell he saw Lyla looked at him with the darkspawn covering her body, she laughed as she saw his look of disgust.

"These seth'lin proved no match for us Falon." She walked to him and helped him to his feet from his crouched position. Looking to the soldiers behind him she ordered "we need this tower to be lit, now follow me and we will take the tower back, you mage keep us healed and the larger creatures confused, archer aim at any smaller ones you see." Turning to face the door she was about to speak again but was interrupted.

"We don't take orders from no dirty knife-eared bitch." The archer spat at her. Before she had a chance to react Alistair had turned and grabbed the man by the throat, squeezing so hard the man's eyes started to bulge out.

"that Knife-eared bitch is a grey warden. she is a better fighter than you. she is a better person than you. Shes been trained from birth to kill. she is more dangerous than you could ever imagine and you want to piss her off? you should thank the maker that I am closer and not her, I merely want to kill you she would hurt you in so many ways you beg to die before she killed you. She is our leader and you will respect her soldier, understood!" Alistair growled loud enough for the mage to also hear him. Letting go of the man, who fell to the floor grasping at his throat, he turned and spoke to Lyla. "Sorry about the idiot Lyla, we will follow your lead."

She spat at the man on the floor and swore in elvish at him before turning her attention to Alistair. "Ma serannas Falon but why am I the leader? Surely you should be since you are the elder warden?"

"No bad things happen when I lead. I prefer to follow anyway and you seem to be used to giving orders my friend, I will do as you ask." Feeling a smile on her face Lyla turned on her heels and walked into the tower.

**-FTDTD-**

They had fought their way through the first two floors of the tower with great resistance, the archer had been shot by a darkspawn arrow but had been healed by the mage, unfortunately Alistair could already sense the taint in his blood, and he knew the man would never survive. When they reached the top of the stairs to the third floor Alistair couldn't help but remark "Maker's breathe. What are these darkspawn doing here ahead of the horde? There wasn't supposed to be any resistance!" he shook his head realising how stupid the question was but was relieved to see Lyla had chosen to ignore it as she walked ahead.

"HEY DARKSPAWN GET OUT HERE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs making the group jump. "I SAID GET OUT HERE!" she turned her head to look at Alistair with a grin on her face, "do you think when I ask them to leave they will?"

Five genlock warriors ran to the sound of her voice and a Hurlock alpha followed soon after, they merely stopped and looked at her dumbfounded by the elf's action.

"Alistair here thinks you should all leave, I'm sorry but you weren't invited to join our camp and I think it's very rude that you just let yourselves in and made such a mess. Now please leave!" she spoke with that same voice that Alistair struggled to understand, was it humour or anger she spoke with? Before the darkspawn had a chance to react however he saw Lyla reach over to a ballista beside her, that he had not noticed, and fire the bolt inside it. The bolt must have been amplified by magic as it exploded when it hit a genlock straight in the jaw, taking out the rest of the darkspawn in one go.

"I'm sorry Alistair it seems they didn't want to leave." Lyla sounded like a small sad child as she spoke but then laughed and said "there's no time to waste lets hurry to the top and light the beacon, hopefully we aren't too late." And ran off leaving the men slack jawed and thoroughly confused as to what just happened.

"Lyla wait! You can't just keep running off on your own" Alistair cried as he ran after her, running around the corner to see she had already engaged the darkspawn waiting for them. He ran to the darkspawn attacking her flank and bashed his shield into its face, knocking it onto its backside, he immediately followed this up with a sword through its neck.

Lyla ignored Alistair's fighting beside her concentrating on blocking the attacks of the much bigger Hurlock that was aggressively attacking her, as it brought its blade down to cut her head open she raised her sword and dagger in an 'X' and held the weapon there before expertly spinning and disarming the creature, she then span behind it with her back facing the creature and brought her blades sharply behind her piercing its body and with a cry it fell to the floor dead. Seeing another genlock running at her she threw her dagger at it, hitting it in the middle of its head killing it. As the body was falling she ran past and grabbed the dagger out without breaking her pace and charged the next creature. A giant fist made of stone flew over her shoulder as she ran and she realised the mage and archer had finally recovered from her surprise attack, though it surprised her just as much as it did them, she didn't see the ballista until she had already shouted the darkspawn.

Alistair engaged another Hurlock alpha, this one armed with a sword and shield and was expertly blocking its attacks and trying to get some of his own in when it suddenly lost its head and fell to the floor. It revealed the small elven warden who merely laughed and warned him not to waste time before running up the stairs to the top floor.

Reaching the top of the tower Lyla had hoped that they would have a bit of luck and it would be empty so they could light fire quickly. Her luck was not to be found though as she saw a gigantic monster picking at the bones of the men it had killed in the middle of the room. Backing to the wall she muttered aloud "Dirthamen. What is that thing?"

Alistair heard her speak before he got into the room and was just as surprised as she was to see the creature, hoping it hadn't seen her yet he motioned to the men to back off down the stairs and grabbed Lyla's arm as he walked back down.

"Lyla that's an ogre, we can't just rush in as you would like to, we need a plan." He whispered to her.

"ok, Alistair do you think you can keep it busy with your shield?" when he nodded she continued, "shemlen you fire your arrows at its face, aim for the eyes, I'm sure that won't kill it but it might piss it off enough to make a mistake, Mage can you try and freeze it in place? Or at least slow it down so the knight here will be able to get out of its way. I am going to run for its back and try to climb it, I've been climbing since I was a child but somehow I doubt this will be quite the same, if I can get to its head I may be able to bring my Dar'Misaan into its brain and bring the fury of Elgar'nan to it. Good hunting." She walked back out to the ogre and the men followed her without question.

Alistair screamed as he entered the room, hoping to get the ogres attention fully on him, which worked very quickly, almost as quickly as he regretted doing it. The behemoth lowered its head and ran at Alistair who managed to dive out of the way just in time, getting up to see the ogre turn and swipe its humongous arm at him, he jumped back out of the way and swiped his sword at it as he did so, he hit the creature but didn't even manage to pierce the skin, 'the tough son of a bitch' he cursed silently.

Lyla noted the fact that Alistair couldn't even hurt the monster as she motioned for the mage and archer to fire, the archer whilst not as good as a Elvhen bow master was still quite skilled and manage to hit the ogres eye in only three attempts, enraging the creature as it swung wildly knocking Alistair to the edge of the room, the mage panicked at this and tried to freeze the creature, it did little to stop it but did manage to slow it down a bit.

Lyla cursed and ran around the room trying to stay out of the ogre's vision as it grabbed the archer, tearing his head off with no effort. She ran silently and leaped to its back as it stood in front of the mage. She raised her swords as she jumped and the force of it managed to sink her blades up to the hilt and she laughed loudly as she heard its scream of pain, she pulled her Dar'Misu out of the creature and spun herself round to land on the hilt of her sword which managed to hold her weight. Jumping up she span forward and landed between the creatures giant horns, bringing her dagger down through its eye. With a load roar it fell to its knees and them onto its face, landing directly on the mage, killing him instantly.

She pulled her sword out of the creatures back and lit the beacon, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't too late. As soon as it was lit she ran to Alistair who had managed to pull himself up to the wall and rested his back against it.

"I had feared Falon'Din had claimed you Lethallin, I'm glad you're alive." Suddenly she heard darkspawn running into the room. "Though I fear it may not be for too lo…" she stopped mid-sentence as an arrow pierced her stomach, she fell to her knees and could swear she saw a giant bird flying towards the tower as she lost consciousness.

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**I wanted to add the conversation in where it is decided that the warden leads instead of Alistair now, it seemed strange to me that you would just take control without a word of the whole group, usurping Alistair's control if he had wanted it. So I thought it made more sense for him to tell her he prefers her as leader now before their first major fight together.**_

_**So there we go, the battle of Ostagar over just as quickly as it started, please review, follow or favourite this story, I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but it would be great if some did.**_

_**Translations**_

_**Ma nuvenin – as you wish**_

_**Hahren – elder**_

_**Felas – slow (Lyla decided on this as Alistair's nickname in the last chapter)**_

_**seth'lin – thin blood**_

_**Falon - friend**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you**_


	9. Chapter 9 - Treacherous Shemlen

**Chapter 9 – Treacherous Shemlen.**

_Lyla was walking through the camp towards Ashalle, the woman who had taken her in as her own after Lyla's mother died. She carried in her hands three bowls of stew, she knew Ashalle very well and knew that she would have forgotten to eat today as she always did when she was teaching the children with Merrill. Merrill was barely more than a child herself but she was smarter than Lyla and Ashalle combined. She was the keepers first and had been a part of the Sabrae clan since she was a very small child, Merrill's parents were from the Alerion clan and had chosen to give their child to the Sabrae clan as they knew there were no magical children born there. Merrill was too young to remember her parents but like Lyla she saw Ashalle as her mother, the woman had raised her along with Lyla._

"_Andaran Atish'an Lethallan" Merrill smiled at her friend as she approached them. "Is that for me? Ma serannas Lyla, you are too good to me as always. Can I at least get you a drink? We have…" she paused and looked around trying to see what was around her. "Water?" she smiled weakly and took a bowl off Lyla._

"_Merrill, you're my sister you don't need to get me anything and I know you both too well, you haven't eaten since breakfast have you?" she looked up at Ashalle with a stern look in her eyes. "Mamae you know how Merrill gets when she talks about history, you should have kept an eye on her." She smiled after this to let her parent know that she wasn't really cross._

"_Lyla you know as well as I that no one but you could stop Merrill once she gets interested in something." Ashalle laughed. _

"_Though I must admit I didn't expect to see you again." As she spoke Lyla noticed the world shifting in colour, the beautiful vibrant green trees of the Brecillian forest quickly changed to the brown leafed trees of the Korcari wilds._

"_Mamae? What's going on? Where am I?" Lyla was scared, the panic apparent in her voice._

"_Da'len it's time for you to wake up. You are a warden now, not Elvhen. Stop fooling yourself and go back to your shemlen friend." Ashalle spoke with such venom in her voice that Lyla felt her heart break._

"_No, Mamae don't leave me. I don't want to be alone, please Mamae." Lyla was crying as she fell to her knees begging. She turned to Merrill who wore an equally hate filled face as her parent. Lyla's tears fell harder as she watched Merrill transform._

_A mighty black dragon had formed from the body of Merrill and darkspawn where forming from the friends she had once saw. The dragon noticed her and roared. To Lyla it sounded like a thousand halla stampeded through her mind, bringing the dread wolf himself to find her. She screamed and closed her eyes. Wishing for the nightmare to end._

_**-**_**FTDTD-**

Lyla woke with a start, she held in the scream before it escaped her lips but couldn't help the tears flowing down her cheek. She noticed she was lying in a bedroll set up in a tent but for the life of her she couldn't remember putting it up, in fact she couldn't remember much right now. The last thing she remembered was a sharp pain in her stomach and the cold hard floor of the tower rushing to meet her.

Hearing the flap of the tent move she turned her head to look, amazed that she was in no pain. In the entrance stood a lone, grey wolf, panting as it stood there watching her. "Andaran Atish'an Morrigan, how did I get here?"

The wolf barked then as a white light consumed it a woman appeared crouched. As Morrigan stood she spoke. "Ah, you remember me, how nice. T'was my mother who saved you dalish. After seeing how the fight was going she saw you fall and turned into a giant bird and swooped you up in her arms." Morrigan's face told Lyla that the story may not be true but Lyla was sure she had seen a bird.

"So, I wasn't hallucinating. So it was she that healed me? Where are we Asha?" Lyla turned her body to look at the woman more easily, she didn't want to remove the cover of the bedroll as she noticed she was naked.

"No. T'was I that healed you dalish. You are at our home in the wilds, surely you remember such a place? T'is about time you woke up, your friend has been terribly annoying with his constant questions of your health." Lyla's face shone at that statement, Alistair was alive! She didn't care right now about her dream or the fact he was a Shem, the only person she knew was still alive!

"Morrigan, what happened to the shem army? The darkspawn?" Lyla was almost scared to ask, she didn't care for the Shem but knew better than anyone the danger the blight was on Thedas.

"It seems your king was betrayed. His man did not bring his troops to battle as promised." Morrigan spoke in a sing-song voice to show she really didn't care about what happened.

"He's not my king, I couldn't stand the man but if the battle was lost, what of Duncan or the grey wardens?" Lyla didn't care if she was asking too many questions anymore, Duncan was the first Shem to ever show her kindness and her order was the closest thing to a clan that she had now.

"You and that bumbling idiot are the only survivors dalish." Morrigan did seem to be sad as she spoke perhaps she wasn't completely evil then. "But enough talk, Mother wishes to speak to you, you will find some armour in that chest, I'm afraid the stuff you were wearing was completely destroyed."

"Ma serannas Morrigan." Lyla said as she watched the woman leave the tent, crawling out of the bedroll she opened the chest and gasped. Pure elven ironwood armour, it even had the craftwork signature of Master Ilen under the breast plate. The armour was lighter and stronger than any leather armour she had worn before and had the silvery blue bark of the ironwood tree masterfully crafted into the shapes of leaves as the scales. She looked down and saw the leggings were made up of the same material but also had a green silk skirt on top, this was designed to look like the leaves of the tree of the Ironwood tree. Lyla had never seen craftwork so beautiful in all her life. She looked upon the armour once more and noticed that next to master Ilen's signature was another, Keeper Mahariel. Another gasp with tears forming in her eyes she realised this was the armour of her father, the one he must have died in. Lyla had no idea how Asha'balannar had retrieved it but she didn't care, she finally had something of her fathers to keep.

After getting dressing in the armour she was amazed to find it was so light it made her feel as though she was naked. She was amazed that it fit her so well but assumed that the witch must have somehow refitted it to her size. She walked out of the tent towards the lake that Morrigan's house was next to, not even noticing Alistair and Asha'balannar talking to her left, she walked to the water's edge and gasped at her reflection, she looked beautiful, and it was the first time she had ever thought that about herself in armour.

"Lyla? Thank the maker you're ok, I was so scared you would leave me!" Alistair finally noticed her and ran to her.

"Alistair, I don't think the maker had much to do with it." She turned away from Alistair and looked at the witch. "Mas serannas Asha'balannar, I am forever in your debt for the gift you have given me. Did you know it was my fathers?"

Alistair was confused, was what her fathers? And where did she get that armour from, he knew better than to question his friend though, he had been on the receiving end of her anger and didn't want to be ever again.

"I found him twenty four years ago, near death, he was beyond even my magic at the time. I have always like your people. He told me that he and his bonded where attacked by humans and he fought back to allow her to escape. He told me how she was with child and asked if I knew of any way to change that armour to fit you when you came of age. I did so not expecting ever to find you but I kept my promise regardless." The witch was uncharacteristically serious as she spoke and Lyla struggled to keep the tears out of her eyes, this was such a sad time losing all the human armies to the dark spawn but she couldn't help but be happy.

"Ma serannas Asha'balannar" was all she could manage to say.

"Well now that's out of the way, Lyla did you know this was The Flemeth. From the legends?" Alistair sounded amazed as he spoke.

"Of course I did Felas, that's what I've been calling her since we met her." Lyla was still struggling to speak.

"Do not speak about me as if I am not here children." Flemeth's stern voice rose above Lyla's. "Now that I have saved you I must ask, what will you do now?"

"I don't know, we are the only two wardens left in ferelden aren't we?" Alistair asked and saw Flemeth nod her head. "How are we supposed to end a blight with just the two of us?" all hope had left Alistair now and he bowed his head in fear of what he supposed would happen to the country now.

"Wait, Felas, what about the wardens from Orlais?" Lyla found her voice again at last, letting the confidence she was good at faking shine through.

"We could find them but I honestly wouldn't know how and could we really leave ferelden like this?" he didn't even look up as he spoke.

"Well what about the treaties? We went to find them, perhaps they are still at camp?" Lyla tried to sound hopeful but she was struggling.

"No. Wait. They aren't at the camp. Flemeth please tell me you managed to grab my pack as you saved us?" Alistair looked up hopefully at the witch.

"of course I did fool, I'm not as stupid as you wardens seem to be, sending the treaties off with some bumbling fool to attack darkspawn, they should have been kept safe somewhere not in your bag."

"Felas, we have them here?" Lyla felt the hope return to her body. "Then we do have a chance don't we? If we get the dwarves, mages and Elvhen with us we can stop this!"

"We could go to Redcliffe as well, I told you I grew up there, Arl Eamon was not at the fight perhaps he still has his men and with King Cailen dead he will be the best person to have on our side to rally the nobles to our cause." Alistair was practically bubbling with excitement as he spoke now. "Could we really do this? Raise an army and stop the blight?"

"You can't if you just stand in my yard all day! You should go now. Dalish you say you owe me? Repay me by doing me this favour. Take Morrigan with you, she could use the experience away from home." Flemeth spoke directly at Lyla now, it was still a little scary for Lyla to meet her eyes but she did so anyway.

"Ma nuvenin Asha'balannar I will do as you wish." Lyla bowed her head at the woman.

"Mother do we have two guest for dinner or none?" Morrigan called from inside the hut.

"They are leaving Girl and you are going with them." Flemeth's reply left little doubt that this was nothing but an order.

"Oh such a shame… wait. What?" Morrigan stepped out from the hut. "Do I get no say in this?"

"No" Flemeth gave a look to her daughter that seemed to dare her to defy her.

"Very well mother. Dalish if you would give me a moment to gather my things." Alistair couldn't believe his ears, he had just gotten his head around the fact he had been saved by an apostate, granted an extremely powerful apostate from legends, and now he was to be joined by one. How could Lyla just accept that? Perhaps apostates were seen differently by the dalish.

"Are we really letting this apostate come with us Lyla? The Templars and chantry will be after us in every town we visit." Alistair spoke quietly to Lyla hoping not to be heard by the intimidating woman before him.

Lyla's face changed from the happy look she had on to one of great anger at Alistair's words, causing him to jump. "Do you not think they would be after us anyway? The chantry is evil Shem, if it wasn't for them my people would still be in the dales. This chantry you are so afraid of pissing off has declared my people a pest and an enemy to their church. I couldn't care less what they think of me." Lyla was practically growling at Alistair when she stopped but before he could speak again she started. "And don't forget Felaslen it was an **apostate** that saved our lives." She spat the word apostate out with such venom Alistair could feel his face pale in fear.

"I'm sorry Lyla I didn't realise. It's just I was trained as a Templar and it's hard for that thought process to change." He muttered whilst looking down and avoiding the woman's eyes.

"You were a mage hunter?" Lyla's voice dropped below freezing as she spoke. "You were a Chantry bitch? How could I have been so wrong about you Shem, you're just as evil as the rest of your kind if that's who you are." She walked away from Alistair at this, she was too angry at the man for hiding this from her and didn't want to attack the only other grey warden for miles around.

"T'is a funny sight indeed." Morrigan laughed as she approached Lyla. "To see a human so afraid of an elf, I never thought I'd see the day." When Lyla gave her a threatening look warning her to be quiet Morrigan just laughed. "Shall we be off then? We do have a world to save."

**-FTDTD- **

Lyla was struggling to follow the path that Morrigan was making them take, she was used to tracking animals and remembering her way in unknown places but the wilds Morrigan grew up in where indecipherable to her. She looked in awe at the brown, grey colours of the trees and underbrush which when compared to the vibrant emerald green trees of her home, the brecillian forest, added to the depression weighing in her heart. '_How could I have fooled myself into thinking I could trust this Shemlen? I should have realised he was like all the others, greedy and out for himself. No doubt he's just waiting for a free moment so he can slit my throat for the glory of his seth'lin maker.' _she all but screamed internally at herself.

"Lyla? Are you ok? '_Stupid question, of course she's not, look at her idiot.' _Alistair regretted the question instantly, he felt even worse when he saw how she looked at him, all the friendly familiarity gone, replaced by a Stoney ice cold expression.

"Ar'din nuvenin na'din Harellan." _I don't wish to kill you trickster._ Lyla's voice had lost all the joy he had heard back at Flemeth's house and was instead dripping with venom. "Don't talk to me."

Laughter in front of him shook Alistair from his thoughts and he looked up to see the raven haired witch standing by a tree shaking with laughter.

"T'is so funny." She exclaimed whilst looking at the pair. "You expect this fool to not speak? And you blame him for being a Templar yet never asked why?" she laughed again and continued leading them through the path.

"Fine" the words oozed from the elf's mouth with such anger Alistair could feel the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. "Why didn't you tell me you were a mage hunter?"

"I had no choice. I told you I was a servant for Arl Eamon, well his wife sent me away when I was ten. I was raised by the chantry. They convinced me that being a Templar was the right thing, that mages and heathens needed to be stopped and my blade should do it." He dared to look up at Lyla's face as he spoke and saw her eyes still filled with hate but her face had relaxed. "I hated every minute of the training but they force you to take lyrium to enhance the powers we train against magic. Lyrium is addictive Lyla, once you join the Templars it's almost impossible to stop, to quit lyrium addiction outright kills more times than not." He could have sworn he saw a flash of sympathy in her eyes before the hate took over again. "The chantry controls the lyrium supply, to leave the Templar order is to leave the lyrium and to leave lyrium is suicide."

"Why aren't you dead then?" Lyla's words sounded harsh but her eyes betrayed the truth, she was confused, whether about the chantry or her friendship with Alistair was anyone's guess.

"There was a tournament held to honour the grey wardens at the grounds I was training in. Duncan was there overseeing it, he claimed that the winner of the group would be asked to join his order. So I jumped at the chance of leaving, I hated what the order did to mages." A brief smile crossed his lips intended to bring Lyla onto his side. "Armed with my sword and shield I felt unbeatable as I walked into the arena for my first fight. That feeling lasted all of twenty seconds with I tried to dodge a direct stab and fell to the ground instead. To say I was embarrassed would be an understatement. I managed to get up and finish the fight but well the damage was done. I fought against other stronger fighters but lost to nearly all of them. But I suppose Duncan saw something in me, instead of recruiting the winner of the tourney he recruited me instead. I'll never forget the grand cleric's face as he told her. 'You want to do what?'" he spoke the last line in a high pitched squeaky voice that succeeded in making Lyla laugh. "Duncan just told her he invoke the rite of conscription and took me off to join the wardens. Turns out the joining rid me of all my dependency on lyrium which is lucky as I didn't really fancy asking the chantry for one more hit."

"So the Templars are slaves? This chantry of yours gets worse and worse every time someone tells me about it. I hope the dread wolf found Andraste for what she did. Felas, I understand why you may not have wanted to tell me about this but please no more secrets, you are the only friend I have left, I need to be able to trust you." Lyla looked up at Alistair hoping he understood how lonely she was.

"Lyla, I promise I have no more big secrets to hide." _'Well except one'_

"Ma serannas Falon. Come I can see the edge of the wilds, we must be near the road now."

**-FTDTD-**

Morrigan walked behind her companions now that they had reached the road, she hadn't been this far from the wilds since she was a small girl, the road itself seemed to be the same as the one she remembered but this one was surrounded by farmland, looking ahead she could just about make out the ruined remains of the imperial highway ahead. She remarked to herself how nice the quiet was now that that idiotic male warden had finally shut up and then looked upon the wardens in front of her finding herself smiling in amusement at them. She found it hilarious that this big man would follow the words of a little elf woman who was at least a head and a half smaller than him. Elves were usually smaller than men but this one was small even for them. _'How can this woman expect to fight darkspawn so much bigger than her?' _she thought to herself.

"There's something in the distance. I think it's a group of darkspawn and they're chasing something, an animal of some kind. Alistair get ready to charge them as they approach, Morrigan I don't know what your abilities are yet but would you prefer to shift into an animal and fight close up or stay behind and use your staff?" Lyla's spoke matter-of-factly leaving no doubt that she was born to lead the group.

"Let me shift Dalish, let the darkspawn fear my forms." As she finished speaking a great light shone from her and her body shifted to that of a giant spider.

"Andruil guide us" Lyla muttered to herself as she drew her bow, knowing that the group needed ranged support. She nocked an arrow and drew back the bow string, drawing in a breath and closing one eye she aimed at the nearest darkspawn still some 20 paces away. "Dread wolf take you monster." She growled as she let loose the arrow.

The Hurlock looked up from the animal it was chasing in time to see a group approaching them, it barely had time to react when it saw the arrow flying straight at it. The last thing it saw was the arrow fly into its eye before it died. Alistair charged as soon as he saw it fall, stopping briefly as the giant spider jumped over him and ran straight into a Hurlock alpha, taking it in her mandibles and crunching the life out of it. Alistair ran in to the next genlock smashing his shield into its face and looked in disgust as the creatures face was destroyed, before driving his sword through his throat, he felt pain in his shoulder as another darkspawn slashed at him. Luckily the blow lacked any real power as the creature fell almost instantly after hitting him, an arrow sticking out of the back of its head. Morrigan ate the last darkspawn before changing back into her human form.

"Urgh, that was disgusting, did you have to eat them?" Alistair stared at her in disgust.

"no, but I was hungry." Came Morrigan's reply as she looked up the animal she had saved.

"Is that the same dog you helped Lyla?" Alistair asked as he saw the hound charge towards the elf, stopping just before her and licking her outstretched hand.

"I think it is, these mabari imprint on a master right?" she looked at the dog as she spoke, surprised to see it nod its head. "Am I your new master?" she asked not realising she had slipped into speaking elven. See another nod she spoke again "well you need a name then don't you, I'll call you Revas." _Freedom_, she spoke again but in her elvish tongue. "Freedom, for that is what you are to me friend, you are my freedom from the world that hates me, freedom from the clan that disowned me. I am honoured you chose me my friend."

"Does this mean we are going to have this mangy beast follow us around? Wonderful." Morrigan's voice full of sarcasm as she shook her head.

"Oh he's not mangy." Alistair spoke with the voice of a mother who had just seen her baby for the first time. "How did he understand you when you spoke elvish though?" he asked no one in particular.

"We get this dog and you're still the stupidest in our group Alistair." Morrigan laughed as she spoke, and Revas barked happily at her comment.

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**You'll notice a lot of a change from the game in this chapter, I didn't like the idea of Lyla waking up in Morrigan's bed and thought the scene would be better if she was outside the hut in a tent. The armour she gets in the chest is loosely based upon the armour from the **__**improved atmospheres **__**mod, you get this armour instead of the dalish hunter armour in the origin story.**_

_**Translations**_

_**Andaran Atish'an – formal greeting**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you **_

_**Mamae - mother**_

_**Asha - woman**_

_**Asha'balannar – woman of many years, Flemeth's elvish name**_

_**Felas – slow, Alistair's nickname**_

_**Ma nuvenin – as you wish**_

_**Felaslen – slow child.**_


	10. Chapter 10 - Lothering

_**Author's note.**_

_**Well ten chapters in and I already feel my writing has improved slightly, I am still pretty new to writing anything like this so forgive me for any mistakes I make, I am hoping that with time I will iron out all the creases. I'll discuss what happens in this chapter afterwards, and address Lyla's temperament which was mentioned in my first review.**_

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Lothering**

Lothering was a quiet little village just north of Ostagar, it was close enough that Morrigan suggested they go there for supplies as they only had the clothes on their backs to travel with at the moment. As they arrived usually empty village was bristling with life, the refugees from blight stricken villages all around had fled there. And of course with fleeing desperate people come those who would try to gain from all the loss. It was such a group that stopped Lyla and her party as they walked along the imperial highway to enter Lothering

"Wake up gentleman, more travellers to attend to." Leader of the bandits spoke with a surprisingly pleasant tone. Lyla looked past him and saw the five heavily armed men watching them with suspicion and noted one of them looked to the right of the highway. Following his gaze she gasped as she saw the dead bodies of an elven family. The father had his arms chopped off and from the look on his face it had happened whilst he was still alive, the mother had been stabbed more times than Lyla could count and just as she thought it could not get any worse she saw the children. They had been mutilated beyond recognition, the monsters who did this obviously weren't killing for money or for greed. They were killing for the fun of killing those they saw as inferior. She felt sick as an anger she had never felt before took over her mind and a red mist overcame her vision. Unknown to the danger the bandits where in the leader walked towards Alistair, ignoring Lyla completely. "I guess that fellow is the leader." Pointing towards Alistair, sending a look of panic on Alistair's face. _'Big mistake Shemlen.' _

"Err. They don't look much like the others. You know." A lackey spoke up from the looks of him what he lacked in brain cells he more than made up with pure muscle. "Maybe we should let these ones pass."

"Nonsense, Greetings Travellers." shooting Lyla a disgusted look, who had begun cursing quietly in elvish, Revas growled at the man as she spoke. _'Bigger mistake, ar'tu na'lin emma mi' I will see your blood on my blade._

"Highwaymen, preying on those fleeing the darkspawn I suppose." Alistair said to no one in particular. Looking at Lyla he continued. "She's the leader not me. You probably shouldn't upset her, she's a nasty temper."

"A knife-ear in charge of humans?!" the Man obviously didn't know what danger he was in as he insulted Lyla, who growled at the man in anger. "What has the world come to?" _'Thank the creators he's just as insufferable as I'd hoped. This shemlen deserves to die more than any I've killed before.'_

"T'is amusing how people insult the heavily armed and extremely angry elf is it not?" Morrigan laughed after she spoke and continued shaking as Lyla finally spoke up.

"Seth'lin Shemlen, the Dread Wolf has come to take you." She growled once again and then spoke in elvish "Revas, kill the big stupid one." She then drew her blades in one smooth action and beheaded the leader of the highwaymen in one fell swoop. Revas had already began charging the Group before she managed to draw her sword and reached his target as the leaders head hit the floor. Jumping at his unprotected throat Revas ripped it out almost effortlessly.

"All right, we surrender. We're just trying to get by, before the darkspawn get us all" one of the men spoke up barely able to get the words out at the sight of the blood thirsty Mabari in front of him. Lyla slowly walked up to the remaining men laughing menacingly as she did.

"I've had a really, really bad day. So thank you for giving me something to work my frustrations out on." She laughed again as she stopped next to Revas, the massive war hound coming up past her waist. "Give me all your silver and I'll only kill half of you, otherwise my war hound here will get to feast." She grinned wildly watching the men in front of her collectively gulp. The man who had spoken originally walked up to and opened a chest that was hidden behind a ruined cart. Standing up he held a coin purse in his hand and offered it to Lyla.

"Twenty silver pieces, that's all we have!" the man fell to his knees pleading. "Please don't kill me." This statement was only met with more laughter as Lyla looked at him. Turning to look at her companions who had walked up and stood behind her she asked.

"What shall we do Falonen?" Morrigan pulled the staff from her back and walked to the man on his knees while Alistair merely looked down at the ground not willing to meet her gaze, too ashamed at what his race had done.

"They are fools to get in our way, let's teach them a lesson." She said her eyes filled with glee as she smiled.

"I hate shemlen, and you are the worst of the worst. You are greedy, arrogant and worst of all idiotic. You murdered that family there, for what? Money? Vengeance? Or maybe just because their ears weren't as round as yours? Did you really expect to beat two grey wardens a mage and a war hound? You are the reason my people and yours will never have peace. I am the force than ensures we won't." Her words rang upon the ears of the men in front of her. "You've been dead since I met you, your body just didn't know it yet." She stabbed the man in front of her through the throat. "Kill them all." Revas dived at the closest bandit and bit rapidly, trying to break down his will and succeeding. He fell to the floor to be met by two black unyielding eyes which then dived upon him as Revas closed his jaw around the man's throat. Alistair recovered from the shock of Lyla's speech and drew his sword and shield running at the man in between Morrigan and Revas, this one had actually managed to draw his weapons and was hiding behind his shield as Morrigan cast spells at him. Alistair smashed his shield into the man's back forcing him to the ground where Morrigan's spells hit him, killing him painfully.

They continued on in silence until they walked into the clearing before Lothering. "Well there it is Lothering. Pretty as a painting." The village in front of them was made up of small wooden houses that were built right almost on top of each other. They curved round a big building in the centre of the village, the chantry. This looked slightly out of place compared to the simple houses surrounding it, it was made of stone and had statues in the courtyard in front of it, and when Lyla didn't recognise them she assumed they must be something to do with this strange religion.

"I've been thinking, where do we plan to go from here?" Alistair broke her concentration on the village forcing her back to the conversation taking place.

"You've been thinking? Do I need to brew you a poultice for the headache?" Morrigan sarcastically asked eliciting a bark from Revas that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"I. I don't know Alistair, I was thinking we could go to the mages first, Morrigan is talented at brewing poultices I'm sure but we need a healer or at least someone who can teach her how to heal." Lyla sounded completely different know that the fighting had stopped, she had gone from that cold angry warrior to her usual self very quickly.

"You don't want to find the dalish elves first? I was sure that was where we go." The surprise in Alistair's voice was difficult to hide.

"No, they don't allow shemlen to enter the clan unless they are Solas'Tu. The closest translation I can make in your tongue would be ones who bring Pride. It means I can't show you to Elvhen till you have been proved worthy. I am sorry but you haven't proved yourself to me yet, not enough to endanger my people." _'Plus I don't know if I can go back, I was cast out.'_ She ended silently.

"Oh, perhaps we could go to Redcliffe first then? It is closer after all." The hurt in Alistair's voice was apparent but Lyla didn't want to talk about her people anymore so she left it alone.

"Maybe we could, though I think perhaps we should find out some news first. We have been out of the loop for a while and I don't want to miss anything important. Come let's explore this place." Lyla looked ahead to the village. She had never seen a human settlement up close before and was shocked at how different it was to her own peoples. '_How can they stand living in one place? It must be so strange not moving around all the time. And how do so many people live here? I've never seen such a busy place in my life.'_

"Before we go Lyla, can I ask just one thing? This is a simple village, they won't have seen many elves before and they certainly won't have seen any dalish. They will probably insult you but they just don't know any better please don't attack anyone. Also they are a simple maker-fearing folk, if you could refrain from insulting their god it would help us immensely. We have too many enemies to keep making more." Alistair was surprised to hear himself speak, and the look Lyla gave him in return made him sure he shouldn't have said anything.

"Mythal protect me but you are right Felas, I will try my best to control my temper, please try and stop me if I get carried away." Lyla gave him the nearest to a smile she could manage at the minute and turned to walk towards the village.

**-FTDTD-**

After hearing a farmer insult her personally and a Templar guard warn her not to make trouble the last thing Lyla wanted to do was enter the chantry but Alistair was insistent on it, Morrigan had long since wandered off saying she would be back when they left the village. "Felas I think I will wait outside when you go in." she spoke softly. "I know I said I would try to be understanding and not insult your religion but I still don't like it and what they do to my people. I can't go inside, I just can't." He smiled understandingly at her and she continued. "I will wait over by that tree, once you are finished we can go and get supplies and leave this place." She smiled up at him and walked to the place she had mentioned.

Alistair watched her walk away and smiled as he saw the dog following, ever protective. He turned away from her at last and carried on towards the chantry. Noticing a chasind man screaming about something or other. _'Isn't it great how the blight manages to bring everybody together'? _He carried on past the man and the crowd that was slowly gathering around him, to be stopped at the door by a tired looking Templar.

"If you seek refuge in the chantry, there's simply no room left." He spoke with the resignation of a man who had repeated the words a thousand times.

"The chantry's closed?" Alistair was confused, the chantry never shut its door to one who wished to pray. '_The situation must be worse than I thought.' _

"You can still come in and pray to the maker, there is just no room to stay Serah." The Templar look apologetically at Alistair as if expecting him to break down. "The priests are within, Maker bless us all."

"Did you know there were bandits on the highway?" Alistair hastily changed the subject, he didn't want to be seen as a refugee.

"Were? Did you drive them off? Ser Bryant will appreciate that." The man tried to smile but it fell flat, it almost looked like he had forgotten he could. Alistair muttered his thanks and blessing to the templar as he stepped passed him and inside.

This chantry was very different than the one he had grown up in. It was a lot less fanciful and the pews were set up in an orderly manner. He appreciated the curved ceiling inside and then looked ahead at the men huddled up further inside. One man had the armour of a templar on and was obviously in charge. _'Ser Bryant I assume'_. As he walked towards the group he was stopped as a man told him his story. The man had come to see the grand cleric to ask for her blessing as his family were fleeing their farm and he was worried the maker wouldn't protect him. Alistair blessed the man and carried on forcefully this time, hoping no one else would interrupt. As he approached Ser Bryant looked up, his grey eyes surrounded by the lines of a man who had not had enough sleep, like his fellow templar he tried to smile at Alistair as he approached but failed miserably.

"I am Alistair, of the grey wardens Ser. I take it you are Ser Bryant?" Alistair tried his best to sound official but seemed more like a child given responsibility, he was secretly glad that Morrigan and Lyla weren't there to listen.

Ser Bryant nodded his head. "Ah I wish you hadn't told me that. Teyrn Loghain has issued an order declaring all grey wardens an enemy of ferelden for betraying king Cailen in the battle of Ostagar. I don't really believe him but I can't say the same for the people of this town. It might be best if you keep it to yourself." Alistair swore quietly but that was still loud enough to turn heads. "I had thought you were one of Arl Eamon's knights."

"Oh do they come here often?" Alistair asked. Ser Bryant went on to explain that some had stopped there in recent days seeking a cure for Arl Eamon's illness, it seemed to be quite serious as he was sending his men away in search of a legend. They were searching for the urn of Andraste's ashes which was said to cure any illness. _'I must convince Lyla to go to Redcliffe right away. But I can't not ask for news here now, I promised I would.' _

"Those bandits outside the village are no longer a problem, they made the mistake of insulting our leader and well let's just say perhaps the maker will be gentler in his punishment." He smiled as he spoke.

"Sad that it needed to come to that, apologise to your leader for me, I hope he will forgive me."

"Well I'm sure **she **will, she's an elf and they had just murdered an elven family so she wouldn't need your apology, she would have killed them no matter what."

"Well then they asked for it, please take a reward for your service." The Templar reached into his armour and produced a coin purse, seemingly brimming with coin.

"Thank you Serah, I will give them and your apologies to my leader." Ser Bryant turned away and carried on his conversation with the templars around him, Alistair decided he wanted a blessing before he left so went to talk to the grand cleric.

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla had sat at the foot of the tree enjoying the shade as it kept the late summer sun off her back, she enjoyed watching the people walk about their lives. It was so strange to her, she had been brought up to believe that all humans were inherently evil causing pain and suffering wherever they walked but how could these scared looking people be evil? Lyla looked around hoping to see some greedy humans to prove her teachers correct but saw none, she was really confused. Could the keeper and the Hahren of the clan have been so wrong? At the thought of her clan her mood worsened and her heart dropped. '_Oh Merrill, I wish you were here with me sister. I'm all alone now, this world hates me and I have nothing left to care for.'_ As if sensing her thoughts Revas pushed his head into her lap and motioned for his head to be scratched, as she did she started singing softly to him.

"_Melava inan enansal._

_Ir su araval tu elvarel_

_U Na emma abelas._

_In elgar sa vir mana._

_In tu setheneran."_

She had barely finished singing the first verse when she noticed a woman had stopped and walked closer to listen. The woman had short braided red hair, Lyla's mouth dropped as she saw it, she had never seen such beautiful hair. Looking down Lyla noted that she wore strange robes that Lyla had never seen before, they were orange and Beige. The chest had a sun rise embroidered into it. Lyla suddenly realised she had stopped singing to stare at the woman's chest and looked down feeling her cheeks flush.

"That was a lovely song, it is dalish, non?" the woman had a strange accent, Lyla had never heard of anyone speak like that and thought it sounded beautiful.

"Yes it is, my mother used to sing it to me" Lyla looked up sure that the blush had gone from her cheeks, she was amazed a shemlen knew of her people's songs.

"It is beautiful, are you a dalish then? I have never met one of your people before, I am Leliana, and it is nice to meet you." The woman knelt down beside Revas and turned to look at Lyla, drinking in her appearance.

"Andaran atish'an Leliana, emma Lyla." Seeing leliana's expression change from one of curiosity to one of confusion made Lyla realise she had slipped into elvish again.

"Andaran Atish'an Lyla" Leliana spoke only slightly mispronouncing the words. "You have a beautiful voice Mon ami. I am glad I stopped to listen, I was on my way to the chantry. As you can probably tell, I am a lay-sister there." She gestured down at her robes as she spoke. "Would you perhaps like to pray with me, the makers accepts all, he would be happy to hear you."

'_She can't be trying to convert me can she?'_ Lyla felt her blood rise as she listened to the sister. _'How could this shemlen think I would worship her seth'lin maker?'_ As she opened her mouth to shout at the woman she stopped. _'I don't want to draw more attention to myself than I already have. As Alistair said these people may attack me if I insult their god. I don't want to kill anymore innocents, not again.' _"No." Lyla was struggling to keep her temper under control and the woman had done nothing to her. "thank you but no, the maker and my people have a troubled history. I am sorry, can we talk about something other than your god?" hoping that a change of subject would calm her down Lyla looked up to meet the gaze of the redheaded sister.

"But of course, I should have realised, my beliefs are not yours. I am sorry if I have offended you." Lyla's mouth fell open again, an apology from a human? And a chantry sister at that. "If you do not want to talk religion, could you tell me what you are doing in Lothering? It is quite unusual to see an elf in this quiet village."

"I am a Grey Warden, one of the only two surviving ferelden grey wardens. I came here with my friends to collect supplies before heading out." As she spoke Lyla was surprised to see the woman jump and smile widely, as if she had just received the most amazing news.

"You are a grey warden?" her accent grew stronger as she got more excited. "You will be battling the darkspawn, yes? That is what grey wardens do. That is why I must come with you." '_Did this shemlen seriously just say that? She must be crazy.'_

"Why would you even want to follow me?" Lyla looked at leliana's face, hoping to see some reason in her eyes.

"The maker told me to." _'Creators. She is crazy.'_ At the mere mention of the maker Lyla felt her blood begin to boil again, she directed the anger internally at herself. '_I need to calm down, this Shem has been nothing but kind to me, stop letting your opinions warp your mind Lyla.' _She silently chastised herself and then spoke aloud.

"He told you? I wasn't aware your maker did much of anything." Lyla scoffed, it was all she could do to not let her internal battle explode out of her.

"I know that sounds crazy." '_Well at least I'm not the only one who thinks that' _"but it's true. I had a dream. A vision" her accent was barely understandable now, Leliana had become so impassioned by the vision she had.

'_Ok she's crazy. Not much I can do about that. But do I really want a chantry sister with me? I can barely contain my anger now, this woman is nice enough it would be unfair to let it out on her. She's a priest as well, how could she possibly help fight darkspawn, throw holy water at them? Sorry shemlen but it's got to be a no.'_

"A vision? I'm sorry Shem, we are all full up on crazy now, perhaps another time?" Lyla saw Alistair leave the chantry and took the chance to escape from the redhead, who was after a few moments collecting her thoughts followed after her at a distance.

**-FTDTD-**

Alistair told Lyla all he had learnt in the chantry, including the fact that the grey wardens were now wanted by the royal family. She scoffed at that. Explaining that her people have always been hunted and this was just life to her, but when he told her that there was soldiers in the tavern asked about grey wardens and that the tavern was the best place to get supplies Lyla's face lit up, she obviously was looking forward to an argument.

They walked through the village and entered the tavern, the whole inn stopped and turned as they walked in, giving Lyla all the attention she never wanted and she wished she could just disappear into the shadows away from the accusing eyes of these shemlen. "Well, well, well. Haven't we spent all day asking around the town if there was an elf of this description and everyone said they hadn't seen her? It seems we have been lied to."

"Uh-oh loghain's men." Alistair shook his head as he spoke taking a position behind and to the left of Lyla whilst Revas stood to her right.

"Well they could have been lying Shem, or perhaps, if your little shemlen brain can understand this, we only just got here." she gasped theatrically. "No, of course not, it's more likely everyone lied to save this little elf."

"Gentlemen there's no need for trouble. These are no doubt simply more refugees seeking shelter." Lyla recognised that strange accent and turned to see Leliana walk in, she was surprised when the sister walked past her and subtly took Lyla's hunting knife from her belt without a word and continued walking towards the soldier hiding the dagger behind her back. _'Well sister, it seems I may have underestimated you.'_

"They're more than that. Now stay out of my way sister, they are an enemy to Ferelden, they are Grey Wardens. Now stay back sister or you will get what the same as this knife-eared bitch and her bloody dogs."

Ignoring Alistair's claim that he wasn't a dog Leliana continued. "Do you mean this woman harm then Monsieur?" she asked innocently and when the soldier confirmed it and said he would kill her as well if she didn't get out of his way, she brought the knife up to his throat slicing it quicker than Lyla could track. As he fell to the floor Lyla wasted no time and threw her dagger at the man behind him whilst running to take out the third and final man. She was beaten by Revas who brought the man to the floor with ease who promptly surrendered.

"Revas. Stop let him live." She spoke in her natural elvish. Then returned to common to speak to the man. "You will return to your len'alas lath'din Teyrn and tell him this. The Grey wardens know what he did and I will bring vengeance upon him." When the man just lay there she screamed at him. "RUN SHEM BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND." Alistair recovered from his shock at what just happened, obviously not seeing Leliana take the blade from Lyla's back.

"Wow, you must think yourself lucky friend, normally she just chops your head off and feeds it to the dog!" he laughed again as he saw Revas pretending to gag. He then looked up to see Lyla taking her knife back from the sister.

"Felas, this is Leliana, it looks like she will be joining us on our journey." Lyla seemed very amused by this." It seems she was sent by the maker himself!" another theatrical gasp, what had gotten into her today? "A vision no less." Leliana's face showed anger for a split second then it returned to its normal amused expression. "Leliana, this is Alistair, the other grey warden, mind the smell, I'm not sure if that's Revas or him."

"Bonjour Alistair, A pleasure to meet you." Alistair recognised the accent even if Lyla had not and was amazed to find such a person in Lothering.

"An Orlesian? Here in Lothering? I don't know if that makes you crazy or the fact that you have visions does. Either way welcome to the circus, you can meet Morrigan later, she's a barrel of laughs."

* * *

**Authors note.**

**Well there it is, Leliana joined the group, it's a bit different than in game but I thought this was more interesting, though I must admit I did rewrite the conversation between lyla and Leliana about ten times, im still not completely happy about it but it's the best I can do.**

**I hope Lyla's mood swings weren't too confusing this chapter, I plan on addressing why her emotions change so rapidly in a later chapter (probably soon after Lothering so don't worry) however I will say that she has been trained to think that all humans are evil and she has had extremely bad experiences with them that helped twist that view even more. She is constantly confused about how she can like the humans she meets which puts her on edge meaning she snaps very quickly. Though the real Lyla does shine through occasionally.**

**in my version of Thedas, the Dalish and the Chantry are much more violent towards each other. insteady of the uneasy peace that exists in the games i have instead changed it so that it is sort of an unofficial war, the templars actively seek out Dalish clans and hunt them down whilst the Dalish actively raid chantry towns. this is part of the reason Lyla is so conflicted about humans.**

**Leliana will speak a lot of French, I plan on adding it into the sentences as I do with Lyla and her elvish, and I think it adds something to the character which I really enjoy.**

**Translations**

**Seth'lin – thin blood**

Falonen – I hope this means friends, I took Falon (which means friend) and added the suffix –en, which according to the dragon age wiki means plural, either way it meant friends here.

Solas'Tu – another word I pieced together from the wiki, Solas (meaning Pride) and Tu (meaning to make/cause) which I interpreted as to cause pride.

Andaran Atish'an – a formal greeting (I don't need to keep repeating this do I? I think I've used it every chapter yet!)

Emma – I am

len'alas lath'din – dirty child no one loves (isn't that just an amazing insult?)


	11. Chapter 11 - An Orleisan, a Templar

_**Author's note**_

_**Apologies for not posting yesterday, I had to take a mental health day, all good now and hopefully you will enjoy this chapter a lot, it was pretty difficult to write though.**_

* * *

**Chapter 11 – An Orlesian, a Templar and a****n Elf walk out of a bar.**

After Leliana apologised to the tavern owner and offered to pay for any damage caused by the fighting, which the owner politely declined, the group bought some drinks and sat down at a table to talk. Alistair was laughing as he spoke of a time when he was a serving boy, he was meant to bring a bottle of wine to the Arl's wife but had walked in on them in a "ahem intimate manner" and managed to drop the wine, staining the wooden floor. Leliana burst into tears of laughter at that and was gasping for air whilst muttering quietly in Orlesian, Lyla however was barely listening, the patrons of the tavern had still not stopped staring at her and it was making her very uncomfortable. She refused to let her temper rise and get into a fight, at least until they had left.

"Lyla?" the tone in Alistair's voice let her know that this wasn't the first time he had said her name. "Lyla? Anyone home?"

"Can we leave this tavern Felas?" Lyla looked away from the uncomfortable stares of the crowd and looked at her fellow warden.

"But I still have my drink." Alistair tried shooting puppy dog eyes at Lyla but she ignored it.

"I think our elven friend does not like the attention she is getting Ser Warden." Leliana had noticed the stares the group was getting and correctly guessed that Lyla was feeling very self-conscious.

"Please Alistair?" He had never heard this tone in her voice before. She sounded like a scared child asking for permission to leave the table. Before he had a chance to reply he saw her eyes go wide in fear and look at the ground.

"'Ow much?" A big man had walked up to the table and was looking at Alistair whilst gesturing towards Lyla.

"Sorry, What?" Alistair oblivious, as always, to anything and had no idea what the man was asking. He looked at Lyla and saw that she was shaking, he hoped that she wasn't about to lose her temper.

"'Ow much, for 'er?" the man pointed at Lyla now. "I only need an 'our." Lyla still had not looked up and was shaking even more now, Leliana moved to put her hand on Lyla's back before swearing at the man in Orlesian. Alistair was just shocked into silence, he honestly had no idea how to react, should he jump to her defence or would that make things worse, and he hoped the man would just leave well enough alone. "I 'ave coin, let me take the knife-ear upstairs and show 'er 'ow an elf deserves to be treated."

"You would treat her like an animal? Like some possession? Merde. Mange la merde. Walk away before you get hurt." Alistair mouth dropped open as he realised what was going on, why was Lyla not attacking this man? Even Revas was not attacking, just nuzzling his head into Lyla's lap. It was up to him to make the man leave. He stood up and curled his armoured hand into a fist, bringing it up and punching the man square in the jaw knocking him off his feet. He motioned for Leliana to guide Lyla outside and stood over the man.

"If you ever dare speak to anyone like that again you son of a bitch I'll come back and kill you. Andraste's breath I'll kill you." He bent down to the man's face as he loudly whispered the threat into his ear and walked out after his companions. Once outside he went to speak to Lyla but Leliana asked for privacy, suggesting that he wait here away from them for a time. He desperately wanted to see if his friend was ok but the chantry sister told him that she needed a woman's touch not a man and told Revas to stay with him.

Leliana put her arm around Lyla's shoulders and walked her over to the tree she had first met her under. As soon as they arrived Lyla collapsed to her knees and broke down in tears, Leliana instinctively held her close and quietly comforted her new companion until she calmed down enough to talk.

"Ma serannas Leliana. I don't know what came over me, I've never been so scared and so angry at the same time, I was terrified that you would just let the man have his way with me." Lyla still had not looked up from the floor since leaving the tavern but Leliana could sense the conflict on the elf's face.

"Lyla I would never, ever let anyone do that to you. I know we don't know each other yet but that's one thing you need to know, I am your friend and I will protect you as much as you will me." Leliana put her hand under Lyla's chin and made her look at her as she spoke. She could see the tears on her face glistening on the facial tattoos that masked the woman's face.

"I should have been stronger, it's just so..." Lyla struggled to find the words, she barely knew this woman how could she expect her to understand. "It just brings back horrid memories." She hoped that would explain enough that she would not have to elaborate further.

"Mon ami, if you can keep us safe in battle, you are strong enough, it does not make you weak to be scared. Now how could you think we would have left you to that pig? If it was me that the man was trying to have his way you'd stop it, non?" Lyla nodded and wiped the tears from her face, she looked up and past Leliana's face and her face instantly hardened, the fear and vulnerability gone in an instant to be replaced by the barely contained anger that somehow suited Lyla's beautiful face.

"Ma serannas falon. Now please go find Alistair and bring him back here, I will find Morrigan and meet you back her, then we can discuss our plans." Lyla's voice had changed back to the confident tone it usually had and stood up.

**-FTDTD-**

Morrigan had transformed into her raven form as soon as she had left the elf and templar, she preferred her own company and knew if she had stayed human she would not be left alone, instead she had flown from tree to tree watching the town as it lived. It was amazing to Morrigan, she had never seen this many people, it was so different than the way Flemeth had described it, so much more primal, desperate. The villagers seemed so weak to Morrigan, openly showing fear and other such emotions. As such she was amazed to see the Elven Warden be lead out of the tavern by a chantry sister, barely containing herself, Morrigan was sure that the elf was strong so why would she be willing to show such weakness. She could not resist flying after the pair and sat on the tree they were talking under, listening in on the conversation. Lyla had seen her, Morrigan was sure of it and felt panic grow in her body, she wasn't scared of anything but she had seen the way Lyla acted when angry and that was enough to make Morrigan wary.

"Come down here now." To any passer-by Lyla would have seemed to be talking to herself but a black raven flew down and in an instant a raven haired woman took its place. "Don't repeat what you saw to anyone witch. I will kill you if anyone knows of my weakness." The panic in Morrigan's body grew into terror, ok she was not scared of anything except Lyla.

"Dalish I don't know what you are talking about? T'is funny that you would have a friend in the chantry you hate so much though." Despite her fear Morrigan couldn't help prod the caged beast in front of her.

"My name is Lyla. Witch you will use it or the Dread Wolf will come for you." Lyla was back to the angry woman she had become with the bandits. If Morrigan wasn't so adept at hiding her emotions she would have fallen apart under the gaze of the little elf.

"T'was not meant to cause offence Dal- Lyla." She barely caught herself and prayed that Lyla hadn't noticed, she found teasing Alistair a lot less stressful than this. "T'is just what you are. A dalish elf."

"I'm not dalish anymore. I'm a Grey Warden and the leader of our group, you will respect that even if you don't like it." Lyla was struggling to keep a hold of her rage once again, how could she have both of these shemlen see her so weak?

They stood in silence whilst waiting for Leliana, Alistair and Revas to return, when they did Revas almost took Lyla to the floor he was so excited to see her again, after she had bent down and whispered in her own tongue to the dog she stood up and introduced Morrigan and Leliana officially.

Not looking up from her hound Lyla spoke. "Felas, how much coin do we have? We have a lot to buy and I'm not sure we will have enough." After Alistair checked the pouch he had received from the Ser Bryant he told her that all they had was one sovereign. "Creators. We need more than that, we have no supplies for the road, no tents, no food, nothing. Leliana needs armour and weapons, I need more arrows and I'd like to get some more glass flasks so Morrigan can create more poultices. I'm assuming you and the sister won't approve of me stealing?" she laughed as she saw Leliana's shocked face and Alistair cough awkwardly. "Of course not, well is there any way we could get coin?"

"Well there is the chanter's board. The chantry often has paying work, I don't know how well but it's a start." Alistair saw Lyla's body shift at the word chantry and was confused as to why even the word caused such a strong reaction in his friend.

"Ok we will start there. Morrigan take however much you need to get ingredients for poultices, I've a feeling we will need a lot, and then start mixing as many as you can carry. Alistair you take Leliana and go to the chanters board, I have no wish to go anywhere near your makers house. I will take Revas and see if there is any work that may pay in the village. Come find me as soon as you have work, I'm sure I won't be that hard to find, just listen for the shrill dalish voice screaming 'dirty shemlen!'" she put on an exaggerated version of her own dalish accent making even Morrigan laugh. "Dareth shiral. You know what to do let's get one with it." She walked away without another word, Revas following silently. Lyla knew she had more important things to do but revenge was the top of her list and she must do it before her companions find her.

She walked back to the tavern and approached the man who had tried to buy her. She stood behind him and kicked out at the back of his legs bringing the man down to his knees. She took her dagger and put it across the man's throat, feeling his pulse quicken as he looked and saw her face. "Halem sahlin, ma emma harel, ar tu na'din" she pulled her dagger back and stabbed the man in the shoulder. "I would kill you shemlen but that is too good for you. I want everyone to know what happens if you cross me, how much pain you will live with for the rest of your miserable life." She stabbed the man again, this time in the back of his legs, his friends too shocked to do anything to help their defenceless friend. She looked up and warned them never to insult another elf or she will be back to get them. She walked out as Revas barked so loud it made the men jump from their seats and fall on the floor. The dog swiftly caught up as she left the tavern and she turned to him, speaking in her elvish language. "He got what he deserved my friend, no one will ever have to suffer his touch, ever have to suffer someone forcing themselves on them, not as I once had to."

**-FTDTD-**

Alistair and Leliana walked in silence towards the Chantry building, he desperately wanted to ask what was wrong with Lyla but something in the way Leliana looked at him made him think it probably wasn't a good idea. He had seen the dried tears on his friends face though and was seriously worried about her, he had never seen her display any emotion other than rage before and he didn't know her well enough to be able to comfort her. Like most men he struggled whenever he felt helpless to help a friend and this was the worst he had ever felt.

"Ser Warden may I ask you a question?" He was pulled roughly from his thoughts as the Orlesian sister asked him a question, when he nodded his head she continued. "I can tell Lyla hates the chantry, why is that?"

"Sister, I think she blames the chantry for her people's treatment." He looked at the smaller redhead as he spoke and saw the surprise on her face.

"But the maker loves all, why would she blame him for people's prejudices?" Leliana couldn't believe that anyone could see her god in a bad light, he was magnificent to her.

"Not the dalish. The chantry has declared them an enemy of the faith, they are heathens. Our leader believes in gods that are not our own and the chantry does not like that." He thought of the raids his templar brothers had taken against the dalish but decided not to mention that. "She is right to believe the maker does not love her, he has never shown her that he does and honestly I think she'd be right to think he never will." Leliana was shocked. Alistair had told her when they were in the tavern that he trained to be a templar.

"you were a templar how could you think that? The maker is good and loves all. Templars should be the purest form of this." Leliana needed to know how Alistair could be so jaded. Seeing Leliana's face Alistair realised he would have to elaborate.

"Leliana, the templars aren't the pure faithful servants of the chant you believe them to be. I wish they were but they are not." He sighed unsure of how to continue. "When I was a recruit, other templars used to go out into the woods when the Dalish were rumoured to be near. They would find a lone elf and take her. They were lonely men and I'm sure you can imagine what they did to the women they found. The maker may not be evil, the chantry itself may not even be evil but some of the people who uphold the chant are. Unfortunately Lyla has only ever seen this evil, I don't blame her for hating the chantry. I would if I was in her shoes." Alistair didn't want to look at leliana's face, he knew that she would either not believe him or be in pain at the idea of the evil he had seen within the chantry and he had no desire to know for sure. Instead he looked upon the chanter's board to find some work.

**-FTDTD-**

They found Lyla just outside the village talking to a strange tall man, well at least it looked like a man, who was trapped in a cage. Lyla had a look of regret on her face as she spoke to the man about why he was there. The tall man was explaining that he was a Qunari, Sten of the Beresaad to be exact. Alistair had no idea what that meant but realised that saying so would just make him look foolish. The man had obviously been mistreated though, as he had dried blood on his head and cuts all around his arms.

"This is a proud and powerful creature, trapped as prey for the darkspawn, if we cannot find a use for him then we should release him for mercy's sake." Alistair had no idea where Morrigan had come from, it seems he wasn't the only one as when she spoke he heard Leliana squeak and Lyla turned round trying not to laugh.

"Mercy? I would not have expected that from you." Alistair couldn't resist teasing the witch, it was just too easy to annoy her and it was so much fun too.

"I would also suggest Alistair take its place in the cage." Her words were stern but the amusement she felt in the teasing game shone through, Alistair was glad they had something in common at least.

"Yes, that's what I would have expected."

"I suggest you leave me to my fate." Sten held no emotion in his voice and looked resigned to the fact he was destined to die, Lyla sensed something in him though, he must be a great warrior though he seemed as though he had already died, and she didn't understand what she felt.

"What did you do to end up in here?" Lyla had to find out as much as she could if she was going to release him, there was a reason he was caged and she didn't want an unknown quantity in her group.

"I have been convicted of murder. Have the villagers not spoken of this?" Sten still had that calm manner, though Lyla thought she heard a tint of regret in his voice. Perhaps this murderer is not without honour.

"The villagers have not spoken to me. Are you guilty Sten of the Beresaad?" Lyla was trying to be polite to the giant in the cage. She did not want to anger someone who was easily twice her height.

"Are you asking me if I feel guilt or if I am responsible?" Sten's voice returned to that resigned calm voice she had heard before. "Whatever I feel. Whatever I've done, my life is forfeit now." Sten went on to explain that he had killed a farmer and his family. Including the children.

"Aren't you interested in seeking atonement?" Lyla felt the bile in her stomach start to rise when he said he had murdered children, but a Grey Warden does not judge, they take help wherever they can get it, this blight may be the only way this murderer can make up for the crimes he committed, she willed the bile back down and stared at the man waiting for a reply.

"Death will be my atonement." Again the slight hint of guilt or regret was in the man's voice. It was very subtle but Lyla had picked up on it, perhaps the man wasn't as much of a monster as she had originally thought.

"So you prefer to die?" Lyla did want his help but she would not deny the Qunari's wish.

"I would prefer to die in battle. But my choices have been made." Again the guilt was there in his voice, none of her companions seemed to pick up on it though, either Lyla was the only one who could tell or she was wishing to see some good in the monster before her.

"I am on a quest of great importance. I am a Grey Warden and I am battling the blight. I may have need of a warrior like you." Lyla could feel the bile rise again as she thought of having this murderer in her company but she knew her duty and rose above it.

"You area a Grey Warden?" Sten's voice showed clear emotion this time. Surprise. "Even in the far north we have heard the legends of their strength, and skill. But I suppose not every legend is true. Set me free and I will follow you against the Blight." Lyla could hear Alistair shifting on his feet, before she turned she knew he would reject the idea of Sten accompanying them. As if to prove her right he immediately questioned whether having a child murderer with them was a good idea.

"You would leave him here then? To be left for the darkspawn, that is no fitting punishment not even for a murderer." Lyla was pleasantly surprised to find she had been wrong about Leliana once again, she was sure that the sister would be against Sten as well. "We will need to get the key from the grand cleric though and I doubt she would just give…" Leliana paused mid-sentence deep in thought. "I could pick the lock, I am very good at that and it would prevent you from having to step foot in the chantry Lyla." She produced a leather pack that was rolled up, when she unrolled it Lyla was amazed at the metal tools she saw inside.

"Where does a Chantry sister learn to do that?" Alistair took the words right out of Lyla's mouth, or at least he would have if Lyla hadn't been so stunned by the sister.

"I was not always in the chantry you know, I had hoped you realised that in the tavern Ser Warden." Lyla was amused that Leliana was still not calling Alistair by his name. "I used to be a traveling minstrel and well a woman has to know all sorts of tricks to survive on the road, non?" Lyla told her to open the cage and watched in awe as the sister easily opened the lock as if it was not even there. Sten stepped out, it was only then that Lyla realised the Qunari was topless and would have had no weapons at all. _'Mythal, another thing to buy. We need coin fast.'_ He quickly fell into place beside Alistair and listened intently as Alistair explained the jobs they would be doing. Hunting bears, spiders and bandits. It was all in a day's work for a Warden it seems and Lyla took the job happily, she was very good at hunting and Creators did she love it.

**-FTDTD-**

It had taken all day to complete all the jobs for the chantry and then buy the goods they needed. They had picked up a bow and twin daggers for Leliana, along with a full set of leather armour but she refused the helmet saying it would obscure her vision to much. Lyla agreed silently and was grateful as it meant that Leliana was at least aware of how to shoot a bow, she would have to inspect her ability when they had time. Next they bought a great sword for Sten, it was bigger than the one that she remembered Ser Jory use and that was bigger than her. It terrified Lyla how the man was easily able to carry such a big weapon, they had been able to find a shirt for the Qunari but no armour the merchant sold was big enough for the man's enormous chest. They had managed to locate a total of three tents, not enough for them all but Sten had declared that he preferred sleeping outside anyway, so Alistair took one for himself as did Morrigan and Lyla and Leliana resigned to sharing a tent. As they would have to carry all the supplies themselves they had decided not to look for too much more and only bought the bare essentials for cooking. Lyla assured them they would not need to carry much food as she would hunt a lot of their meals anyway.

They decided it was time to leave the village and started to walk back towards the imperial highway, the group all deep in conversation with each other barely heard the scream for help as they approached but Lyla's elven ears were attuned for such and silenced the group and ran ahead drawing her bow. The group quickly followed and saw a horde of darkspawn attacking two dwarves. Lyla was already shooting at them and Leliana noticed a dead darkspawn with two arrows in its throat. She drew her own bow and nocked an arrow, determined to show Lyla she was at least as good a shot as the elf. Holding her breath she took her shot, the arrow flew past Lyla's head and imbedded itself in the eye of a Hurlock. Lyla turned in surprise and shot Leliana a smile before dropping her bow and drawing her sword and dagger. Alistair had already ran past his fellow warden and was engaging the darkspawn with Sten, he saw out of his peripheral as Sten easily cleaved through darkspawn with his blade, taking hits himself but just ignoring them as if he was wearing the thickest armour despite the fact he was wearing none. Alistair was even more amazed when he heard Morrigan shout something he did not understand and saw his sword light aflame, Morrigan had enchanted their weapons, giving them even more of an edge. Alistair quickly made short work of the Hurlock in front of him and ran to the next smashing his shield as hard as he could into it. It all but flew across the highway into the path of Revas who swiftly tore out its throat. The last Darkspawn was shot simultaneously by an arrow from Leliana's new bow and a spell from Morrigan's staff killing it before it hit the floor. The battle was over and a dozen dead darkspawn lay at the feet of the group.

Lyla turned away from the battleground and looked towards the two dwarves. The elder introduced themselves as travelling merchants, Bodahn and his son Sandal, who were fleeing the darkspawn. They asked her who they were and when she replied Grey Wardens the dwarf backed up slightly and said perhaps her life was too exciting to follow before bidding farewell. _'What a strange Durgen'len.'_

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**Not much really happened in this chapter but I do feel it's probably the most important one in terms of Lyla's character development, it's the first time we've seen her vulnerable, what could this mean? It's also the first time I've tried to show just how different the templars and dalish are towards each other in my universe. Hopefully this isn't seen as a waste of a chapter though, I promise soon we will have loads of action!**_

_**Well there we go, out of Lothering now. Onto Ferelden! I looked at the map today and saw how far away Lothering was from Flemeth's camp, for some reason I remembered it being much, much closer. Don't ask me how Lyla, Alistair and Morrigan survived the long journey without any supplies, let's just assume a mix of bad writing, magic, and Flemeth giving them literally just enough food and water to survive going there. I'm going to have Sten use Qunlat quite often, I really enjoy making the characters slip into their natural language as you may tell.**_

_**Translation.**_

_**Elven**__**.**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you.**_

_**Falon – friend.**_

_**Dareth shiral – goodbye (not literally but it's basically goodbye)**_

_**Halem sahlin, ma emma harel, ar tu na'din – this ends now, you should fear me, I will kill you.**_

_**Durgen'len – Elvish term for dwarf. Literally children of the stone.**_

_**French (Orlesian whatever)**_

_**Merde. – Shit.**_

_**Mange la merde. – Eat shit.**_

_**Mon Ami – friend.**_


	12. Chapter 12 - On the Road to?

_**Author's note.**_

_**Hey my faithful readers! I'm changing the upload schedule now, I'm starting to burn out a big after writing a chapter a night, and I don't want the story to suffer so after today I'm going to upload every other day. I think I'm going to start looking for a beta reader soon as well, i notice i make a lot of mistakes when writing and I think that this could reduce that, if you've any recommendations or if you want to beta read for me just send me a PM and I'll let you know.**_

_**Enjoy Chapter 12, hopefully its half as fun to read as it was to write.**_

* * *

**Chapter 12 – On the Road to?**

They had left Lothering two weeks ago, Lyla still had not decided on their destination, she knew that going to the Dalish first would be a mistake though, they would not accept her party yet. So she decided on the west road out of Lothering, this road led to Redcliffe, the Mages tower and Orzammar so she still didn't have to decide. However she knew that she would have to choose soon, the group may see this as weakness or inability to lead. She was leaning towards the Mages, she had no great wish of going underground, as a Dalish elf she wanted, no needed to see the sun and moon, she needed to smell the fresh air, the pollen from the trees, the grass, even the dirt as she walked through a forest, it was almost killing her being this far from a forest never mind if she was stuck underground for a long period of time. She was dreading visiting Redcliffe, meeting noble shemlen's was not going to be a lot of fun, being treated like a servant, or worse, and trying to manage her anger would be difficult She barely contained herself when peasants shot insults at her, to have the nobility treat her as non-existent would be much worse, she could take insults as at least the person acknowledged that she was there even if they hated her. To be ignored caused more pain to Lyla, she was a Grey Warden, she needed the respect of Thedas to stop the blight and being ignored was practically saying she was not good enough to lead them to victory, it was practically saying she would fail before she even began.

'_Creators, I've already chosen haven't I?' _this thought came to her as she sat in the tree that the camp had been set up around. She told the group that the schedule for guard duty was to be taken by two people at a time, it made more sense to have pairs keep watch so they can keep each other awake and see things the other can't. It was her turn to keep watch with Sten, she had no desire to talk to the giant Qunari and he had no desire to talk at all it seemed. She always elected to sit in a tree to watch if she could anyway so having the Qunari patrol the camp whilst she sat in her vantage point with her bow made sense. _'We're going to the Mage tower. It's the best choice, as I said to Felas in Lothering, we need someone to teach Morrigan healing spells, she's taught me a lot about brewing poultices and I can make them almost as well as her now but they are useless compared to magic.' _Morrigan had agreed with her the night before when they had spoken of it, and she even seemed excited to learn new spells. Lyla had found Morrigan the easiest to talk to out of their group, she was the only one who understood how hard it was to be thrust into this world that hated her, her an apostate mage Lyla a Dalish elf, they weren't friends, Morrigan didn't even seem capable of friendship, but they were similar enough to get along.

To distract herself from falling asleep she took out her bow and started to pluck at the string, holding it in such a way that she was able to change the note it created, she began to softly sing an elven song to herself. It was an old ballad describing a Dalish hunter's journey to find his lost clan mates. He had travelled far away from his own clan to save them, the song told the story of the unlikely friends he had made along the way, a dwarven pirate who seemed to love the water more so that stone and a human cleric who despite their difference in faith understood what a clan was to the hunter. The song went on to describe a great battle where the dwarven pirate had sacrificed himself to save the hunter and the cleric letting them escape to fight another day. The enemy was a long forgotten clan of dalish who had turned away from the Elvhen, turning against everything that made them pure, to ask demons to rejuvenate their bodies to be true elves again. The last stanza of the song told of how the hunter found love in the cleric and after finding the clan mates was unable to return as he loved a human. Merrill had taught her that song, the elf had no great love of music unlike Lyla but she loved to research the lore of her people, when she found this song she knew her sister would love it and immediately showed Lyla. '_Creators I miss you sis. I wish you could have come with me.'_ The thought of her sister was enough for Lyla it pushed her past the breaking point she had been teetering on for so long. Lyla quietly sobbed on the lower branch of the tree she was in. she didn't know how long she had cried for but eventually she calmed herself down and climbed out of the tree. She saw Sten go to wake up Alistair so she went to wake Morrigan to join him.

Morrigan had set her tent far away from the others, she wasn't used to company Lyla guessed. Alistair had kept his tent quite close to the fire, as he always did, and Lyla and Leliana had set their a bit away from Alistair's, Leliana had understood Lyla's need to stay away from the others for a long period of time, Lyla was still adjusting to the humans in the group and although she could stand to share a tent with the orlesian she would rather spend the quiet of the night away from the rest if possible. So when Lyla went back to their tent she decided to stay outside and think instead. She lying next to Revas in the shadow of the tent watching Morrigan and Alistair playing another round of their 'teasing game' as Alistair had taken to calling it, much to the annoyance of Morrigan when she decided to go to sleep, she had been awake for long enough now. As she crawled into her bedroll however all sleepiness escaped her and her mind started racing again. _'Creators I'm so scared. I never wanted to be outside of my clan and now I'm leading this group, how did my life go so wrong? I'm about to go to a tower filled with shemlen mages and Templars, Mythal protect me, I'm going to be surrounded by the seth'lin. What if they look at me like that shemlen in Lothering? I need to stay strong, I need to keep my fear to myself. I can't let Felas know what I did, what happened to me. What if that templar is there? Will I even be able to continue, Creators guide me. I am so scared. So very scared." _She felt the tears come back to her and she silently wept herself to sleep.

**-FTDTD-**

"What?!" Alistair's shout woke up Leliana who looked over at the empty bedroll next to her. Leliana had had a peaceful night's sleep for the first time since they had left Lothering, she did not mind sharing a tent with Lyla, in fact she was secretly glad she had company, but the Warden had such terrible nightmares and often woke her up with screams. Alistair had told her that this was due to the Warden's ability to hear the Archdemon and that it spoke to them in their sleep. That must mean that Lyla did not have a nightmare last night and would hopefully be in a good mood today. Leliana had noticed that Lyla kept a mask on her face, not a literal one but one to hide her true emotions, she was not the confident angry person she portrayed, Leliana had only seen the real Lyla twice, once when she broke down in front of Leliana and once when she was joking around with Alistair, despite the fact that he was a Templar Lyla had tried to be as friendly as possible to the man. Getting up and out of her tent she heard the rest of the argument going on outside.

"We are going to the mages first Felas." Lyla's raised voice carried far and wide, the little elf commanded respect when she used this voice and normally Alistair recoiled at it, he was obviously scared of his fellow warden and honestly Leliana did not blame her. "I know you care about the Arl and I know he is sick but honestly Alistair what do you expect us to do? If they are really searching for Andraste's ashes then Morrigan's poultices are not going to heal him, and she has no healing magic so unless your seth'lin templar training taught you some special healing technique we can't do anything to help. We need a healer anyway and if. If Morrigan can be taught some magic and given some books on it then maybe, just maybe we can heal him but do you seriously expect me to bring our group there when we can get help elsewhere?" Lyla was struggling to keep her blood from boiling again, she was the leader and she needed her group to understand that, if they ever question her in front of the templars then she is done. She would struggle to get respect from them anyway and seeing the group question her orders would just destroy that.

"Makers breath Lyla, you're right. I hate it but you're right." Alistair dropped his gaze to the floor, he was tired from his watch and angry that Lyla wouldn't put his idea first but he had just realised he was acting like a spoilt brat. "Are you sure you can control your anger in front of the Templars though? They seem to set you off for some reason." he had asked the question politely as he was worried she would just go in and stab everyone there without a care in the world, her hatred for his brothers in arms scared him.

"How dare you!" Lyla screamed and then loudly and quickly let out a stream of expletives in elvish. Leliana had a grasp of the language and understood most of what Lyla usually said but this just sounded like gibberish, she had seen Lyla lose her temper before but this was worse. "Control myself in front of those seth'lin. You have no idea what they did to my people. What they did to me. And you ask me to control myself? Listen Shem. I know my duty. I know that I need to control my anger in front of the Alas'lin but by the Dread Wolf if you ever, ever ask me to control my anger at them I will hurt you." She screamed again and stormed off towards the treeline that joined the side of the road. "I'm going to hunt. You had better be ready to move by the time I get back or I swear by Andruil herself I will do something we all will regret." Revas ran after her and accompanied her on her hunt.

"Makers breath, I've really fucked up haven't I?" Alistair said it to no one in particular but Leliana walked over to him anyway. They stood in silence and Alistair started to put his tent away before gasping in shock and walking back towards the minstrel. "Leliana, I think I know what happened to her." He took her by the shoulder and walked her away from Morrigan's listening ears, Morrigan would just use this to tease their leader but Leliana was different. He suspected that Lyla was starting to accept Leliana as a friend, something he could never imagine happened between him and the elf. "Do you remember me telling you about the raids the templars used to take against the dalish? Well I remember about six months before I left to join the wardens, a dozen lads had gone out for a bit of fun. Usually these trips lasted a weekend, occasionally a whole week but they were gone for at least a month, maybe longer and only one returned." He stopped speaking and shook his head, trying to clear the disgusting images out of his mind. "He had both of his hands cut off and badly burnt. The rumour was that they had found a single dalish hunting alone and had managed to capture her, they took her to the camp and had their way with her. They kept her for a fortnight, barely giving her enough food and water to live, continually raping her." He had to stop again, he was usually good at controlling his anger. That was one of the side effect of a life in the chantry, but at the thought of what they had done sickened him deeply. "Apparently on the last day one of the templars thought she was weak enough that they no longer needed the bindings on her arms and legs. He let her go and had his way again, but she managed to grab his sword. That elf managed to kill five of the templars with ease, the survivor described her as a little ball of whirling fury, and she had left him alive to deliver a message. That if any templar ever came near her clan she would kill them all." He looked at Leliana who eyes had misted up with tears at the horrific story. "It was then that I knew I could never stay a templar, my brothers in arms were sick, twisted but Sister I think that that elf was Lyla. From the description I heard they are very similar and well a little ball of whirling fury would be the best way to describe her fighting style wouldn't it?" Leliana couldn't even meet his gaze, asked him not to repeat this to anyone and walked away from him. Her mind was racing, how Lyla could have survived that and still be the happy person she seemed to be. It almost seemed unreal the story that Alistair had told her but Leliana knew it to be true. She had heard Lyla whispering in her sleep and had already guessed that it was one of these raids but to hear what actually happened was horrific. Leliana knew that what she had been through was pure torture but it seemed like nothing compared to what Lyla had suffered. She finally understood why Lyla hated her god and well Leliana was struggling to understand why he had allowed it to happen herself. She decided to make herself useful and after packing their tent into a pack she lit the fire knowing that the food Lyla brought back would need to be cooked.

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla had returned and not a word passed between her and Alistair, even Morrigan knew to keep her mouth shut around her at the moment. Leliana though was worried and when she saw Lyla walk away and sit alone near the tree she decided to talk to her.

"Mon Ami, are you ok?" _'Stupid question Leliana, you know she isn't why in the Maker's name did you ask that'_

Lyla looked up at Leliana and Leliana saw the dried tears on her face and fell to her knees beside her, it was all she could do not to put her arms around the girl, comfort her and tell her that it will all be ok, she would not let the templars do anything to her friend again. But instead she just knelt there know that Lyla would eventually talk. Lyla looked away from the sister and instead ate her food in silence expecting that to drive the woman away, when she finished however she surprised that she was still there.

"No I'm not falon. Creators. I just…" she trailed off into silence again as she had no idea what to say, she hated being vulnerable, the only person she had ever been comfortable telling about what happened to her was Merrill and Merrill was so disgusted she emptied her stomach. "Can we not talk about it please? You were a minstrel could you tell me a story? I need to get my mind out of the dark place it's in."

"Of course. I have many stories. Perhaps you would like to hear one I know of your people?" Leliana had no idea what to do with herself, should she throw her arms around her leader or should she back away and give her space. She had never dealt with someone like this before. Lyla nodded slowly and looked into Leliana's eyes. _'Maker's breath. Those eyes. So sad, how do I fix her? I need to be her Sister Rose. I need to be her rock. I need to be her friend.'_

"Have you heard about how your people gained your freedom from the Tevinter Imperium?" Lyla shook her head, she had never really paid attention when Hahren Paivel told the stories of their past, sure it was interesting but Lyla was much more interested in their music and hunting. "When Andraste began her Exalted March against the Imperium, the elves joined her cause to fight their masters. The great elven leader, Shartan, born in captivity rose up to lead his people. He foresaw a future where the elves were free. Shartan was killed when Andraste was betrayed, but the elves continued to fight, eventually breaking free of the Imperium. The elves claimed the Dales in the south, and settled there, in a land of their own."

"It didn't last" Lyla's voice was so tiny when she spoke it, Leliana had to hold back a sob of her own. It pained her to see the normally strong intimidating woman so exposed, so vulnerable. She just hoped she could somehow help her.

"Non. The elves lived in the Dales for centuries. They resurrected the worship of your gods and would allow the building of no chantry. This angered the Chantry. The hostility between the two factions finally broke out in war, the chantry says the elves struck first but I do not know whether to believe." _'Especially after hearing how their Templars treat you and your people.'_ "The Chantry declared a holy Exalted March against the elves, named for Andraste's similar march against the Tevinter. During the Exalted March of the Dales, the elven cities were sacked, and the elves completely dissolved. Some of the elves bitterly accepted their fate, and surrendered to human rule, living in the human cities as second class citizens." She ignored Lyla's comment of 'seth'lin flat-ears.' And continued. "But others, still fiercely proud of their heritage, refused to bow to the humans, and instead became homeless wanderers. They were the elves of the Dales. The Dalish, your people." Lyla looked up at her. Her face slowly transformed from the immense pain it had held to one of joy and curiosity. Leliana knew then that just talking to the elf was the right thing to do, it was the least she could do for her hurting friend.

"Ma serannas Lethallan." Lyla turned her body to face Leliana. "I had never really listened to that story before. I only heard the bit about the chantry attacking us. I am sorry if I ever offended you. You are so nice to me even though I am constantly rude to people." Lyla stopped to embrace Leliana. "It usually pains me to think of my clan but right now, I miss them so much Lethallan, I am so alone right now. No one speaks my language, no one understands me, you are the closest I have to a clan mate now." Letting go of Leliana and standing up she continued. Her voice stronger and more confident again. "Well now I've had a good mope I am ready to continue. Let us press on to the Tower and those Seth'lin Templars can hate me all they want. They will respect me this time. I demand it."

**-FTDTD-**

The next four days of traveling passed with no word of the argument between the wardens, not even Morrigan teased Alistair about his fear of the elf, she herself had been on the receiving end of it more than once. Lyla seemed to have calmed down a lot and was even joining the party for meals instead of hiding away with her hound. Alistair enjoyed listening to her tell stories of her past and ask questions about theirs. The dalish way was much different than their own. Lyla had never even seen a bed! She was so surprised when Leliana told her a story which included them, asking 'What in the creators name is a bed? Could you just not be bothered to say bedroll?' causing the whole group to laugh wildly at her, leaving a puzzled but amused face on the elf. Leliana explained that a bed was like a comfortable bedroll that was raised from the ground and cushioned so as to keep it warm and more comfortable than the roll Lyla had grown up with. He had never seen such curiosity and excitement from the elf when Lyla said that she wanted to experience a bed herself as it sounded so nice.

Lyla had gone to hunt, taking Morrigan with her, apparently when the witch transformed to a wolf she could smell out the animals and direct Lyla and Revas where to go, it was an effective strategy that meant they had not gone without food since leaving Lothering. Alistair sat on his pack looking out at Lake Calenhad and remembered the story he had been told as a child. An ancient human tribe had once believed the lake to be the site of a great mountain that was the centre of the world. Their god had sat atop the mountain, lifting the sun and lowering it for the day and night but the god was attacked by a great serpent. The battle destroyed the god and the mountain, leaving only a giant crater in its place. When the Lady of the Skies, another tribal goddess, saw the god was gone she wept, her tears filling the crater and creating the lake he saw before him.

"Such a beautiful lake. It would be so fun to just jump in and swim wouldn't it?" His thoughts were interrupted by the lovely accent of the Orlesian sister. "I don't think our leader would be pleased that we had gone for a swim instead of setting up camp though, we should get on with it, no?"

He rose from his pack and nodded at Leliana, he started to set up his tent noticing that Leliana set the tent she shared with Lyla away from his again, it really bugged him that they did that but he didn't understand why, he looked towards The giant Qunari they had with them, he was secretly, well maybe not so secretly, terrified of the man. Something about him made Alistair think that the Qunari just didn't care about the rest of the group. Sten was picking up boulders from the side of the road and bringing them towards the fire, setting them up as seats for the group, though from the height of them Alistair doubted Lyla would be able to reach the floor when she sat down. After he set up his tent he went back to his pack and sat watching the lake again, hoping to lose himself in his thoughts when he heard a scream. Looking behind he saw a group of bandits running towards them and Leliana was already running to her pack to get her bow. It was the first time they had been attacked since leaving Lothering and Alistair was glad that Lyla made them wear their armour at all times, he drew his sword and shield and charged.

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla was about to take a shot at a grazing deer when she heard the shrill scream, she instantly took running whistling for Revas and hoping that Morrigan was close enough to hear her or the scream. She twisted and turned her way through the small wood that they had made their hunting ground, she quickly dived under a low branch, rolling out of the dive and immediately jumping over a stump, she saw the flash of light that was Morrigan's transforming from the corner of her eye and then saw the giant spider she had fought alongside before. The spider was quicker than Lyla and overtook her easily, soon disappearing out of view. When Lyla finally made it out of the woodland she saw her party, Alistair was bloodied but had the bodies of a human, dwarf and a flat-ear lying at his feet and he ran to help Leliana. Leliana was obviously taken by surprise only having her bow, she must not have had time to get her dagger before the fighting started and she was desperately trying to avoid the attacks of a human who was swinging a great two hand sword at her. Sten still had no armour but that didn't seem to deter him as he swung his giant blade towards a dwarf that was running at him, slicing him cleanly down the middle, Sten wasted no time and turned to get the next bandit, a heavily armoured Qunari who was carrying a giant two handed axe, he wielding it with almost as much ease as Sten did his sword. The Bandit Qunari had swung his axe at the place that Sten's head had just been, but luckily Sten was quicker than he looked and stepped out of the way at the last second, stabbing his sword directly at the gap in the armour between the head and the chest, cutting the bandits head clean from the body. Morrigan had arrived at the scene by now and immediately shot webbing at the bandit attacking Leliana who had just fell to the floor defenceless. The webbing stuck him in place leaving the opening Alistair needed to kill the man. Lyla ran towards the group looking around for any more bandits that may be in the area, once she had determined there was none she put away her bow.

"I can't leave you idiots alone for a second can I?" Lyla laughed as she spoke, offering out a hand to help Leliana up. "I hope you're happy, your little play time distracted me from getting our food. We will have to make do with what we have saved tonight." Leliana laughed despite still shaking from her near death experience, she had not had to fight for her life for a long time, and she had forgotten how scary it could be. "I'll set the fire, one thing though Lethallan, never be without a weapon, we got lucky today. That goes for all of you, never be far from your weapon. A sword in a pack that you can't reach may as well not be a weapon at all." After pulling Leliana to her feet the Warden walked to the fire, motioning for Morrigan to light it, and began cooking the supplies they had preserved from Lothering. Sten bent down to the dead Qunari and stripped the armour off, he tried it on and was glad it fit, he had felt bare going into battle without it, now all he needed was his sword and he would be capable of anything.

The rest of the group, minus Sten and Revas who seemed to enjoy each other's company, sat around the fire watching Lyla cook. She looked up in surprise at her companions she had been so engrossed in cooking she had not noticed them approach. "Morrigan, what a nice surprise, I'm so glad you graced us with your presence!" Lyla couldn't help teasing the witch.

"Yes, secretly the Scary witch loves our company. She denies it but I can tell she _loves_ us." Alistair elongated the word as he spoke, intentionally drawing it out as long as he could to bring as much discomfort to the witch as he could, he loved to annoy her.

"T'is nothing like that I assure you. I am just hungry, I will leave you alone with the woman who terrifies you so much if you wish Alistair?" Lyla couldn't be bothered to listen any longer, she had heard the pair tease each other enough and it was beginning to get a little repetitive. She concentrated on her cooking instead. She was distracted however when she heard someone humming a song she recognised. Looking up she saw Leliana had moved to sit closer to her and was humming the song that Lyla was singing the day they had met.

"Lethallan I didn't realise you knew that song." Lyla was delighted that she did though. Maybe she had someone to share her culture with. Maybe she might actually be able to make a friend with this woman. _'Ha if I had been told that I would be thinking about being a shemlen's friend, hah not just a shemlen a chantry sister. I would have never believed it, I may not be happy with how my life has changed but maybe I've been wrong about shemlen, maybe they aren't all as evil as I feared.'_

"But of course, it's a lovely song, I love music and your people have some of the nicest songs." Leliana saw the smile stretch across the elf's face, perhaps one day they could be real friends but she was just happy to see the little elf smile. They sat and talked about the music they knew before eating their meals. After the meal the talking continued for a while before Sten returned and sat with them to eat.

"I saw what you were doing back there!" Leliana sounded ridiculously happy as she spoke, almost as if she would burst.

"Oh?" Sten was not happy, or at least you couldn't tell from his voice, not that he would let his emotions show anyway.

"Don't play innocent with me." Sten just looking in confusion, or was that fear? At Leliana. "You were playing with that kitten!" she giggled as she spoke. Lyla was confused as well, she had not seen a kitten, and they were in the middle of nowhere, why would there be a kitten? But then in the darkness she saw movement, a little kitten walked up to Revas who was trying to sleep and crawled on top of him, going to sleep.

"There was no kitten!" Sten had let the frustration fall out of his voice now. Leliana giggled again and pointed at the kitten on Revas.

"Sten. I saw you. You dangled a piece of twine for it." The whole group laughed now, the idea of Sten playing with a kitten was the funniest thing Lyla had ever imagined.

"I was helping it train."

"You're a big softie." Lyla couldn't help but smile as she heard Leliana giggle again but it was accompanied by a strange feeling she had never felt before rise in her stomach.

"We will never speak of this again." Alistair fell of his rock in laughter, even Morrigan was laughing hysterically at Sten's reaction to the Orlesian.

"Softie!" Another giggle. _'What in the creators is this weird feeling?' _Sten left the group and went to lie down near Revas, obviously trying to get to sleep. It was Lyla and Alistair's turn for first watch tonight so they stayed up as the others retired.

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**Well there we have it, a bloody traveling chapter, hopefully it wasn't too boring, though again character development! Next stop – Mage tower and the fade. Not sure what I'm going to do with that yet, it was so boring in game so I don't think I will keep it true to canon.**_

_**Translation.**_

_**Alas'lin – Dirt blood.**_

_**Falon – Friend.**_

_**Hahren – Elder.**_

_**Ma serannas – thank you.**_

_**Lethallan – Close Friend.**_


	13. Chapter 13 - To the Tower

_**Author's note**_

_**Sorry for the delay, I had planned to upload this much earlier today but I had to rewrite a lot of the ending. I am trying to aim at uploaded about 19:00 GMT every other day at the moment, the pressure of writing these chapters so quickly makes it a lot more fun for me to write, hopefully it isn't making a case of quantity over quality though. This Chapter is a longer than usual though, I can't believe I once said I'd keep the chapters to 2550/3000 words, I don't think I've ever kept to that! I am going to try to start keeping my chapter length to about 5000 words if possible though.**_

_**Right well as you will notice this chapter has a lot of dialogue from the game. I try not to rely too heavily on in game dialogue, feels like I'm stealing, but I think the two conversations at the start of the chapter are possible the most important ones in game for Lyla, I'll explain after the chapter. This has been my favourite chapter to write so far, hopefully it was worth it.**_

_**Enjoy my lovely lovely readers!**_

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Chapter 13 – To the Tower!

There were no trees near enough to the camp tonight so Lyla had to sit and talk with Alistair, not that she didn't enjoy talking to the man, she had grown to like him despite herself, she just preferred to be alone a lot of the time, she was still dealing with the loss of her clan and everything that had happened since. She decided to get up and walk around, hoping to at least wake herself up a bit and maybe get a bit of time to herself. To her annoyance though Alistair followed her, to be fair it was probably for the best as the watch was designed for two people for a reason.

"Felas, do you want to talk about Duncan?" She knew the man must be hurting after the Warden commander's death, she had tried avoiding the conversation in the hopes it would just go away but she knew what it was like to bottle up feelings of loss, it was better for Alistair to talk.

"You don't have to do that. I know you didn't know him as long as I did." Lyla was half tempted to just drop the conversation there but she needed him to be all there in the battle so she pressed on.

"He was like a father to you Felas, I understand." Lyla was useless at comforting people but she tried her best to sound sympathetic.

"I… Should have handled it better." He looked down as he spoke and shook his head. "Duncan warned me right from the beginning this could happen." He started walking around the camp as he spoke, Lyla quickly caught up as he carried on talking. "Any of us can die in battle. I shouldn't have lost it. Not when there was so much riding on us. Not with the blight and… and… and everything… I'm sorry." He suppressed a sob as he spoke. Lyla was confused though, as far as she was aware he had not lost it at all, she was the emotional one of the group, he seemed to not let anything phase him.

"There's no need to apologise Alistair. You're allowed to mourn the loss of a friend." The sympathy in her voice genuine now, she knew exactly what it was like to lose a friend and have no control over it. '_Tamlen I will find you if you are still alive. I promise Lethallin.'_

"I'd... I'd like to have a proper funeral for him, once all this is over I mean. If we're still alive. I don't think he had any family to speak of." Alistair's loss was apparent as he spoke, the emotion in his voice barely contained, he had to stop walking and he sat on his legs to steady himself.

"He had you Felas, don't forget that." Lyla crouched down next to Alistair trying to get to his head height.

"I suppose he did." He looked into Lyla's eyes as he spoke. "It sounds stupid but part of me wishes I was with him, in the battle. I feel like I've abandoned him."

"No. I understand completely, I know that kind of loss." Lyla didn't want Alistair to think he was alone in this, she needed him to be ok, and she couldn't finish this without her fellow Warden.

"Of course I'd be dead wouldn't it? I don't think that would have made him much happier." Alistair continued talking as if he hadn't heard what Lyla said. "I think he came from Highever, or so he said. Maybe I'll go up there sometime, see about putting something up in his honour. The Dalish don't practice cremation do they? How do your people honour your dead?" She honestly wasn't expecting that question, as a Templar she had thought he would not care about her people.

"We bury them and plant a tree over their remains. We then sing a song of mourning over the body before leaving it." Lyla was reminded of Tamlen's funeral, there was no body to bury as they didn't even know if he was dead, they hunted a deer and buried it instead, and Tamlen was a hunter so if they could not honour his body they would honour his skills.

"That's… That's beautiful, life stemming from death." Another pleasant surprise for Lyla, he appreciated her culture. The rest of the watch passed by without event and she went to wake Sten as Alistair woke Morrigan. She decided to go straight to the tent tonight, she needed to be rested for the Mage tower, they were only a day out and should arrive the next evening, too late to travel to the tower but hopefully the inn there would have rooms, she was so excited to try out a bed!

Crawling into the tent and removing her armour she got into her bedroll and was slowly drifting off to sleep when she heard Leliana speak. "Lyla, I didn't realise you were there I wanted to talk to you. Traveling with you these past weeks has made me realise how wrong people are about the dalish." She rolled over in her bedroll to look Lyla in the eyes across the tent. "You are not at all savage and I haven't seen you snatch any women or children away without provocation."

"Are you trying to be funny?" Lyla had no idea what Leliana was going on about. Was that a bad joke or was it something that her people were rumoured to do?

"Funny? No, people really believe that about the dalish, it's sad. If my people were more open to communication with yours there would be no bad misconceptions." '_Wow no wonder the shemlen hate us, we hate them for almost the exact same thing.'_

"There are close-minded individuals on both sides Lethallan. I was taught that all she- sorry I mean Humans, are evil and greedy, that they are only interested in killing my kind to rid the world of us. Traveling with you and Alistair has made me realise that maybe there are good people in humans."

"That is sad. I have heard many city folk talk about how wonderful it is to live simpler lives, closer to the earth. They could learn from the dalish." For some reason that made Lyla's blood boil. _'Is that all we are to these shemlen? Some romantic notion, how could they want to live like us, live on the run our entire lives, live with danger at every turn. How naïve are these people?'_

"So you see us as some quaint curiosity to be studied?" She tried to keep her anger out of her voice but that comment had really upset her. She had begun to believe that Leliana was different that perhaps she cared but now it looked like she was just studying her.

"What? No… that's not what I meant. The only elves I've ever met were pledged to the service of Orlesian Nobles." Lyla desperately tried to remain calm but she could feel the familiar pumping sound in her ears as she began to lose control over her temper.

"Slaves?" she spat the word out.

"Serfs. There is no slavery in Orlais." She spoke with the patronising tone of a teacher explaining something very obvious to a young child. Riling Lyla's temper even more.

"It's the same thing Leliana."

"No, elven servants are highly sort after, and some are very well paid, even more so than human servants. They are nimble and dextrous and pleasing to look at." That comment pushed Lyla over the edge. She had been desperately trying not to lose it but after that comment she couldn't hold back.

"So my people are treated like prize winning animals and that's a good thing? Do you think I should pledge myself to some Shemlen Noble?" The venom in her words caused visible pain on leliana's face who was just trying to explain herself to the elf.

"No, I did not mean it like that." Leliana's eyes misted over and she looked away from Lyla for a moment. She turned back sighing to herself and explain. "My words were clumsily chosen, I did not mean to cause offense. I am sorry Lyla."

"I am Elvhen but I am more than that Leliana. I am a person." Lyla's temper had gone as soon as she saw Leliana on the verge of tears, she was beginning to like the woman, she needed friends desperately and she hoped that deep down Leliana was not trying to upset her but she did still treat her differently than she treated humans.

"Of course you are, I never meant to make you feel otherwise, I would never do that to you Lyla." She looked back at Lyla again. "Thank you. You have given me a lot to think about." She turned away trying to keep the tears out of her eyes long enough for Lyla to sleep. She was right, Leliana was treating her differently, and she had seen her as a lesser being than herself. That was part of what was so amazing about Lyla to Leliana, not that she had put up with so much or was so strong, it was that she had done it all as an elf, not as a human. Something inside Leliana made her think of Lyla as second class though and that was a terrible realisation for the minstrel. '_I am no better than the bigoted humans she has put up with all her life, how could I possibly be trying to treat her as a friend when all I do is treat her as less than me, why did I possibly think I was better than her?'_ The tears flowed freely now, drenching her face and her bedroll, she didn't make a sound though, she didn't want Lyla to know how true her words were. She silently cried herself to sleep.

**-FTDTD-**

When Lyla woke she was glad that Leliana was still sleeping, she had no wish to see the woman just yet, Lyla was still not sure what to think about their conversation last night, and she knew it had moved Leliana as she could hear her crying last night but Lyla herself was still upset. She hoped this wouldn't damage their friendship, if they even had a friendship. Before that night five days ago the only person she could relate to was Morrigan but having Leliana come over and talk to her she realised she might not be alone, she may have a new clan. She shouldn't have reacted so strongly last night. She forced herself out of bed remembering they had no real food as her hunt was cut short the night before, she dressed herself in her armour picked her bow and blades up and left the tent calling Revas as she walked towards the woods. She need to be alone and hunting would help clear her head, and fill their bellies.

She loved walking through forests, even small woodland areas such as this, as a Dalish she took strength from the trees, from the soil, from the scents of the fruits in the trees. She almost felt physically weaker when she was away from it for long enough, she didn't know if that was a side effect of being Dalish or whether it was just her. She loved hunting just as much, she could be alone in her head and concentrate on one thing, able to block out all other thoughts no matter how sickening. She climbed up a tall tree with ease, her agile elven body specially adapted for the job, looking around she saw her prey. Her elven eyes better than a humans, another wonderful adaption for forest life, had spotted a boar sniffing for truffles in the distance. She instructed Revas to stay where he was, silently wondering how the dog was smart enough to understand her hand gestures, then jumped from branch to branch slowly getting closer to the boar. Once close enough she took her bow, nocked an arrow, then whispered a prayer to Andruil thanking her for the animal, held her breath and let loose the arrow. It did little more than anger the beast however and it ran towards where the arrow came from enraged. It ran head first into the tree Lyla was in shaking it terribly, she almost fell from the high branch she was in before skilfully dropping down and landing on the boar, stabbing her sword into its throat as she did so, killing it painlessly. She tried to move it but when she realised she was not strong enough she whistled Revas to come and then told him to get Sten. Once Sten arrived he effortlessly picked up the boar and lifted it onto his shoulder and they walked back towards the camp.

They ate the food quickly and preserved as much of the meat as possible. They packed up and were on the road within an hour of Lyla's return from the woods. She kept trying to get leliana's eye, to silently see if their friendship was damaged but the Orlesian wouldn't look at her. Feeling hurt she brushed past Leliana and walked alongside Sten who as always led the group. Lyla decided to pass the time by asking as many questions about Sten as she could before he stormed off.

"You ok sister?" Alistair had missed Leliana's stories this morning at breakfast, normally she would be entertaining the group with a story or two as they ate. So even someone as thoughtless as him knew something must be up.

"Non. I just have a lot on my mind. I just had an insightful conversation with our leader last night. She just made me realise how deep my prejudices lie." She shuddered as she spoke, she was still horrified at herself for treating Lyla so differently. Looking up she saw Alistair's sympathetic face looking back at her, crunched up into a smile.

"Ah, you realised that you were treating her as an elf?" Leliana gasped and her face dropped, had she been that obvious that even Alistair had seen it? Maker's breath how could she be that terrible. "Sister don't worry, you aren't the only one. Let me guess you found yourself amazed at how she could be as strong as a human? Or as smart as one? Believe me sister I found myself making the same comments when I first met her. Duncan, our Warden-Commander, reprimanded me and made me realise what I had done before she did."

"How did you move past it? I can't help myself thinking that when I see her act." The desperation in her voice made Alistair stop. He was amazed that someone could feel so bad about something they unconsciously thought.

"I don't think you can, you just need to remind yourself that humans aren't all that great. Lyla told me how she is a terrible archer compared to her clan mates, yet I've never even seen her miss a shot her people are truly talented with bows, making our bowmen look useless. Imagine how agile others of her people are, Lyla's a hunter so she will be agile but do the dalish have dancers? They would be amazing. And what about the dwarves? They make human smiths look like children with their skill." He spoke with compassion and understanding and despite the fact the words were patronising Leliana found them to be extremely comforting.

"Thank you Ser Warden, you're right. Humans aren't any more special than elves or any other race for that matter. I'll will keep this advice close to my heart, hopefully Lyla will forgive me soon."

"What? You think she's upset with you? Did you not notice her looking at you nearly the whole way through breakfast? Sister I think she's just as concerned about this as you are." Alistair was trying to not stare at the Elf when he had first noticed her attention to Leliana, he was slightly jealous that the Sister had managed to get closer to his fellow Warden than him. But he realised that he was a Templar and in her eyes evil, they would never truly be friends.

**-FTDTD-**

It was evening by the time they arrived at the docks to the tower so Lyla decided to book rooms at the inn nearby. The decision was made because she felt that a Dalish turning up in a Templar tower in the dark would be even less accepted than in the middle of the day, it was not because she wanted to try out a bed. Well ok maybe it was a little because she wanted a bed.

She sent Alistair and Leliana to go and see if there is any rooms available, realising they would be more accepted than any of the others in the group, Morrigan was an apostate mage which she didn't exactly try to hide from people, Sten was a Qunari one of the most feared races in all of Thedas and Lyla was a Dalish one of the most hated. It didn't take long for the pair to return and let Lyla know there were four rooms available so she let Sten, Alistair and Morrigan have a room each whilst Leliana elected to share with her, they had both grown to sub-consciously need the others presence to sleep. Alistair explained that he had told the innkeeper about the group's strange make up and the man didn't care, as long as he got paid so that was one less thing for Lyla to worry about.

They entered the Inn and Leliana immediately grabbed Lyla by the arm and took her to the room they were sharing, they needed to talk and Leliana also wanted to see Lyla's reaction to the beds. She walked in and noted the plain wooden floor, slightly beaten and uncared for, the stone walls with no tapestries or any decorations hung upon them. There was a single small window in the centre of the outside wall and to its right was the single bed.

"Only one bed? Oh, we must have the wrong room!" Leliana gasped and they explored the other rooms, they were all the same, so they slowly walked back to their room. She looked at Lyla who had a bemused look on her face.

"Lethallan, we will just have to share it, I don't mind, if beds are as comfortable as you say then no matter how uncomfortable sharing it with you may be, it will still be better than the floor." Lyla smiled at her and felt that strange feeling she had felt the night before when Leliana smiled back.

"Are you sure Lyla? It's just I know I upset you last night, I don't want to mess our friendship up any more than I have already. I need your friendship." That last sentence was whispered, quiet enough to not be heard by human ears but Lyla was no human.

"Lethallan." Lyla paused not sure how to go on. "I think I upset you just as much last night. I heard you crying." Panic shot through leliana's body, she was sure she had made no sound when the tears fell. Lyla saw the shock on her face and guessed at the reason. "You seem to underestimate my hearing, my ears aren't just pointed to look nice, they hear pretty good too. But seriously Leliana, I need you too. I haven't got any friends anymore. I am alone. You are the only person who is there for me I won't ever forget that." She stepped closer to Leliana and gave her a quick embrace. "As much as I'd love to keep this serious conversation up Lethallan can I lie in the bed now? Creators I am so excited to try it out!" she practically squealed in delight and ran over to the bed before Leliana could answer, falling back onto the bed she let out a satisfied moan. "Dirthamen why would you keep this from me?" she muttered quietly to herself. "Leliana, maybe my people can learn from yours! This bed is wonderful." Leliana giggled at her friend before sitting next to her on the bed.

"You know there is more that my people can teach you, have you ever had mead? Or wine? We are in an inn I'm sure there is lots to try." Leliana had heard that the dalish never drank but she didn't know whether that was a religious choice or whether that was just due to them not having anything alcoholic to drink.

"What is it? Will I like it Lethallan? Can we get some now?" It amazed Leliana that the intimidating little elf that normally seemed on the edge of insanity could sound so much like an excited child asking for some sweets. She giggled again and nodded before taking Lyla by the arm again and walking back downstairs to their group.

"So you enjoyed the beds then?" Alistair laughed as he saw Lyla's face, she was no longer furious but instead awestruck, like she had never seen so many wondrous things and wanted to try them all.

"Falon, I think you mean bed! I had half a mind to make you and Sten share so I could have a bed to myself but realised I didn't want to upset Sten." She stuck her tongue out at Alistair. "Are you getting drinks? Can you get me a nead?" hearing another giggle from the Orlesian she turned and Leliana whispered something in her ear. "Mead even, apparently I would like strawberry mead, do you think they have that here? I can't wait to try it!" she left an astonished Alistair at the bar and walked over to join the group at a nearby table. Leliana laughed at Alistair's puzzled face and asked for a wine before taking the seat next to her.

Lyla looked at the strange thing in front of her. Leliana had told her it was called 'Strawberry Mead' but when she took a sniff it smelled nothing like strawberry at all. She was hesitant to try it but when she looked at Leliana and saw her smiling at her she took a sip. "Creators. This is wonderful." She took a mouthful quickly. Then another and she soon finished the tankard. Looking around she was confused when the world started to spin a little but she didn't mind, she felt oddly warm and comfortable, as if all the weights on her shoulders had just been lifted. She looked around at the group at her table, Morrigan was sitting opposite her drinking some sort of strange red coloured drink, when she asked she found it was called wine but when she asked if she could try it all she got was an icy stare from the witch. Sten was sitting next to her drinking out of a bottle that could easily be bigger than Lyla's head, she was amazed that such bottles existed but was too scared to ask him to try some. Alistair offered his drink to her, he said it was called whiskey, she took a mouthful and felt it burn the back of her throat, she would have enjoyed the oaky taste but the pain was too unpleasant for her, coughing and spluttering she passed the drink back, much to the delight of the party, who all laughed at her. Blushing she turned to Leliana who was also drinking a glass of wine however this one was yellowish in colour and before she could even ask Leliana passed the glass to her lips, this drink was delicious and Lyla had to stop herself from drinking it all. She then asked Alistair to go and get her some more drinks, saying that she didn't want to risk arguing with the Inn keeper if he made a rude comment.

Lyla moved her head closer to Leliana to whisper in her ear. "Leli" her whisper brought shivers down the spine of Leliana, who was not expecting her friend to get that close. "I think the innkeeper is a mage! He's put some sort of spell on the inn and the walls are moving! Do you think Morrigan knows that spell?" Leliana burst out in a fit of giggles, she loved seeing this side of Lyla, up till now she had only really seen the angry serious elf but this happy curious woman sitting next to her was a completely different person, could this be the real Lyla?

"I think maybe you just drank your mead a little too quickly mon ami." It hadn't even occurred to Leliana that Lyla wouldn't know what feeling drunk was like. "You need to be careful with it. I take it the Dalish don't have alcohol?"

"Alcohol?! Is that what this is? Lethallan we never drink alcohol, its forbidden!" Lyla was shocked. She pushed the tankard that Alistair had just put down away and looked ashamed. Seeing Leliana's confused face made Lyla realise she would have to explain herself. "We don't drink alcohol ever it is forbidden. If our senses are impaired when hunting or even when in camp we could put the whole clan at risk if we are attacked."

"Lyla, we aren't going to be attacked here though, we are safe in this place. Trust me, you can drink your mead, would I lie to you?" She smiled at Lyla and gave her that strange feeling in her stomach that felt like she had swallowed butterflies. "You may have to slow down a bit though, we can't have you too drunk when we go to bed, people may think I'm taking advantage of the beautiful Grey Warden." Leliana was delighted to see Lyla look away and blush a deep red. She eventually looked up and gave the most convincing impression of a fish as she tried to find the words to speak. "I'm joking Lyla, people wouldn't think that don't worry!"

As the night progressed Lyla tried to slow her drinking but the mead was just too good for her to really be bothered. She had managed to drink 4 tankards of mead before feeling a bit sick and deciding to stop. She looked over at Leliana and saw two empty glasses on the table and a third in her hand. Looking up at her face she realised that the orlesian was looking back at her, she blushed and looked away embarrassed to be caught looking at her friend.

"Did I ever tell you how much I like the way you wear your hair?" The question made Lyla snap back towards the minstrel, she subconsciously fingered one of the small braids in her hair and looked up into her friend's eyes.

"My hair? Ma serannas Leli." She held the last word a little too long, Lyla didn't realise it but she was slurring her words quite a bit now after so much alcohol.

"It's very nice and it suits you. Simple." Lyla felt that strange feeling again but this time it had risen to her chest, she had no idea what it meant but it made her feel warm and happy. "Not like the elaborate hairstyles we wore in Orlais. They involved flowers, ribbons, jewels. One year feathers were all the rage." She paused to take a sip and then continued to tell her story, she did not realise it but she was slurring a lot as well. She had drank wine in the chantry but this was different, she had drank more than usual and was exhausted from the days travel, she had underestimated how much she could drink. "Lady Elise decided she needed to outdo everyone else and actually wore live songbirds in her hair!" she stopped and giggled, Lyla joined the laughter as soon as she heard her friend laugh. The giggling sent butterflies to Leliana's stomach, she had been trying to ignore the feelings but she knew what she was feeling. "The chirping was quite charming at first but you must realise terrified little birdies often have loose bowels." A giant gasp and a little giggle from the elf made Leliana's heart stop. Maybe it was the wine but she was almost sure she could see desire in the elf's eyes.

"The poor birdies!"

"Yes, Lady Elise never washed her hair!" Lyla gasped again and reached out for what Leliana hoped was her hand but instead Lyla just grasped the wine glass and took it off her with a wink, sipping it as she listened to the Minstrel continue. "That's my drink!" she put on her best 'you kicked my puppy' voice but Lyla was either too drunk or too oblivious to care. "I was trying to say something nice about your hair wasn't I? Oh forgive me, my mind wanders so! It's just that I feel so comfortable talking to you Lyla. I could say anything and you wouldn't judge me." She smiled at her new friend who swallowed the rest of the wine with a delighted sigh then smiled back.

"Da'assan, I actually love the way you ramble. It reminds me of happier times." The warmth in her voice would have made Leliana's knees give way if she wasn't already sitting.

"You see, this is what I mean. You are such a pleasure to talk to Lyla. I haven't felt this close to anyone in a long time. I really enjoy your company."

"And do you often enjoy the company of other women Da'assan?" _'Why in the name of the Creators did I ask that?'_

"And what would you say if I do, very much so in fact?" Leliana risked it. She moved her arm and placed her hand on top of Lyla's.

"Well. Maybe I'd giggle? Look coy?" '_Where did that come from? Do I like her as more than a friend? Is that what my stomach is trying to tell me?'_

"Ha! You must do that then, perhaps later when I am not prepared for it?" _'Maker's breath. She's flirting with me. I can't believe it. Is it the drink or could she actually feel something for me?' _Lyla suddenly went very green in the face and panicked. She tried to get up and run but her body was too drunk to go properly, she fell into Leliana who helped her up.

"Leli, he isn't a mage. He must be an assassin. I've been poisoned! Take me outside quickly, I'm going to throw up." Despite the seriousness of the situation and how horrible Lyla must be feeling Leliana couldn't help laughing at her friends comments. She must have never drank before in her life.

"Come my little elven friend, let's get you to bed before the 'poison' takes a hold of you." Leliana laughed as she spoke, putting an arm around Lyla's waist she walked them towards their room. Once they arrived there she helped her friend into bed, letting her stay in the casual clothes she was wearing, she was too drunk to care, and then changed into nightclothes before climbing into bed herself.

"I've had a lot of fun talking with you today Lethallan. Ma serannas." Lyla's turned her body to look at Leliana and smiled when she saw Leliana looking back. "I'm sorry, I'm usually so grumpy but tonight I felt happy for the first time in a long time." The blush that appeared on Leliana's face made Lyla smile and she found her own cheeks starting to blush as well.

"Are you ok Lyla? I worry terribly about you. I know the Templars did horrible things to you." She hoped that she wasn't revealing the fact that Alistair had told her what happened. "Are you going to be ok tomorrow?"

"I... I don't know Leli. I'm really scared. The Templars are monsters for what they did." She felt her eyes misting but she refused to let the tears fall, she would not cry in front of Leliana, not again.

"Can I ask, what did they do to you?" She gulped as she asked, she needed to know if Alistair's story was true, if the Templars could really be that cruel.

"I've never told anyone. Well apart from Merrill, my sister, but she was involved as well." She closed her eyes deep in thought. "Leli, I trust you and I know you wouldn't but I'd feel a lot better if you promised not to tell anyone, it's hard for me to talk about and the idea that anyone else knew…" she let her voice trail off, she didn't know how to explain how hard it would be for her if anyone knew.

"I promise Lyla. I would never do anything to hurt you, not intentionally." Leliana suddenly wasn't sure what to do, she wanted to know but was Lyla really ready to talk about it? Was it going to make her feel worse?

"It happened about two years ago. Merrill and I had had a fight, so I went out in the middle of the night to hunt. I had been out for about an hour when I heard clinking of armour near me. I knew I was in trouble before I even had a chance to react. I don't think you've ever seen me in a forest, so you wouldn't know just how agile I can be, but I was clumsy that night, an arrow flew at me from seemingly nowhere, it threw me off balance and I fell out of the tree I was hiding in. I must have hit my head when I landed because the next thing I knew I was tied up and surrounded by Templars." She paused, unsure of how to continue, the pain of reliving the memory was almost too hard to bear and she hadn't even started to relive the worst parts yet. She sighed and looked at Leliana, whose face was frozen in fear, as if she was living the memory through her.

"They had already stripped me of my armour, I was naked and in the middle of their camp. Before I had a chance to speak the eldest man hit me. Then hit me again and again until I blacked out." She shivered in disgust at what was to come next. "When I woke the man was... he was…" She started sobbing, uncontrollably. Leliana broke down as well tears falling from her face, she knew now that Alistair's story was at least partly true, she knew what it was like to be violated like that, to feel so ashamed and disgusted at oneself. She moved closer to her friend and wrapped her arms around her to give her some comfort and strength.

"He was violating me Leli. And the rest of the men were just laughing and watching it. When he finished he beat me again and another seth'lin Templar took over. I don't know how many times it happened, I truly can't remember, I blacked out too many times to count as well. I know it had lasted for days, they only gave me enough bread and water to keep me conscious because they enjoyed watching me suffer." She stopped again more tears and sobbing came. Leliana whispered comforting words to Lyla which calmed her down enough to continue.

"I prayed to Falon'Din, the friend of the dead, to come get me, to save me from this pain. I didn't care what happened to me anymore. This torture continued for days Leli. They kept me naked, barely alive and dirty for days. And I just didn't care anymore. I knew I was gone long enough for my clan to get away so I knew they were safe and that was all that mattered to me. But I was wrong." She held tightly to Leliana now, needed the comfort to relive the horrors in her mind.

"The last night, I was beaten again but not raped. They told me that they had found another elf to 'join in the fun' as they called it. I was more horrified than I had been the whole time I was there, managing to whisper 'who?' they laughed hit me again and told me to wait and see. I didn't have to wait long. I was just losing consciousness again when I heard her scream my name. It was Merrill. My own sister captured by these evil monsters. They marched her in front of me and the youngest one there grabbed her robes, he took his knife and cut them off roughly, not caring if he cut her skin. I told her in elvish not to be scared, to stay strong as the Creators will save us but it didn't help, she was terrified and sobbed hysterically." Leliana was crying into her friends shoulder, she didn't understand how the Templars could be that disgusting. "You've seen me angry before Leli but that moment. I became one with Elgar'nan himself. I was vengeance personified, I was so angry that all the pain I felt disappeared and all that mattered was killing these seth'lin shemlen for hurting me and my sister. Now fortunately one of the Templars had undone my bindings thinking I was too weak to fight back anymore, I jumped up, grabbing a sword that lay near me and swung wildly at the nearest man. He was caught unawares and he died instantly, too quickly to suffer. The next man came at me but I was too quick for him, I blocked his attack and killed him as well. The next three men suffered the same fate but the younger shemlen had grabbed my sister, holding a knife to her throat and warning me not to get any closer. I panicked, I couldn't let him hurt her. I threw my sword at his arm, it severed at the elbow and Merrill luckily managed to duck, I didn't even notice though. I was lost in my rage, all I could see was red mist, I knew that man had to suffer, I dived at him and severed the other arm. I made sure he was suffering, I managed to pick him up and I threw him into the fire, I wanted him to feel pain before he died. Merrill saved him telling me not to let my anger consume me, I was better than these monsters. I'm not proud of what I did Lethallan but Merrill stopped me from killing him, she then used what little healing magic she knew and stabilised the man. I warned him never to come back to our world, I would not show mercy again and any Templar scum that came would suffer the same fate." Lyla's anger from the memory quickly disappeared when Leliana buried her head in Lyla's neck sobbing at the torture her friend went through.

"I'm so sorry for what happened Lyla." Leliana's voice was muffled and Lyla could barely make it out. "No wonder you're scared about facing them tomorrow. I am here for you always mon petite trésor. We will face them together." they held each other with tears in their eyes till they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**The conversation with Alistair to me was one of the most important ones in the game for the Warden, it's the first time you see that the loss of someone in game matters, at least to someone, and to Lyla it's the first time she believes Alistair is interested in her culture for curiosity's sake, not to attack her people. It's a big step!**_

_**The conversation with Leliana in the tent is another big one. It makes Leliana question her views and realise that people are people.**_

_**I was planning on getting to the Tower this chapter but I thought drunk Lyla was too good an opportunity to miss, it let the real her shine through for a bit and I really enjoyed writing that part.**_

_**I hope the story of what happened to Lyla wasn't too bad. I tried to keep it as clean as I could to prevent any potential triggers but if anyone wants me to add a warning tell me. I don't want anyone feeling shitty because of me.**_

_**The next chapter may take a while to write, I doubt it'll be out in two days, as you can imagine writing Lyla surrounded by Templars is going to be difficult to do and I don't want to mess it up. Hopefully you understand! Thank you to Zant the Twii King for the two reviews he's given me. And please if you can review my story, I need guidance on where I'm going right and where I'm going wrong! **_

_**Translations**_

_**Lethallin/Lethallan – close friend**_

_**Dirthamen – Elven god, Keeper of Secrets.**_

_**Ma serannas – Thank you.**_

_**Seth'lin – thin blood.**_

_**Da'assan – Little arrow.**_

_**Mon petite trésor – My little treasure.**_


	14. Chapter 14 - The Raven, the witch

Chapter 14 – The Raven, the Witch and the Tower.

Lyla woke up and instantly regretted the decision. Her whole head hurt more than when she got her vallaslin, it was the worst headache she had ever experienced but when she tried to open her eyes the light just made it even worse so she shut them quickly. She desperately tried to remember what had happened last night, why couldn't she remember? Flashes of memory flew through her mind, watching Sten and Alistair get into a drinking competition which ended in Alistair trying to walk back to his room before tripping over Revas and having to be carried by the victor. Sten thought it was a good time to loudly chant a Qunari war chant, scaring all the customers out from the inn. She remembered listening to Leliana compliment her hair, bringing a smile to her face as she did so, and then the memory of them going to bed hit her. '_Oh no. I told Leliana what happened didn't I? Creators. She's gonna hate me isn't she. Well done Lyla, lost another friend!_' she silently chastised herself.

She was distracted from her inner monologue when she realised she couldn't feel her left arm. Then she noticed she had a weight on her chest and the weight was snoring. _'Andruil's bow. Is that Leliana? I forgot she held me last night, maybe she won't hate me then?' _then it occurred to her. Leliana was sleeping on her chest. _'Oh no. She's a woman, what am I going to do? I think I'm already falling for her. At least I think that's what I'm feeling. But she's female. It's wrong. It's forbidden. What am I going to do?'_

"Bon matin mon ami." Lyla gasped as her thoughts were interrupted. She didn't realise Leliana was awake. She managed to open her eyes a crack and saw the Orlesian was lying with her head resting in the crook of her neck. Her red hair free from its braids, draped over Lyla's shoulders bringing another little smile to Lyla's mouth.

"Awful!" Lyla was not sure what to do, she was scared to even talk to Leliana after revealing her secret the night before and now she was in so much pain and was confused about her feelings, it was all so maddening. As she spoke she couldn't keep her voice from breaking. "Why am I in so much pain lethallan? Why can't I remember much from last night?"

"Mon ami you're hung-over!" Leliana giggled, sending vibrations through Lyla's body. Her stomach fluttered and Lyla realised that maybe she wasn't just falling for the Orlesian, she already had fallen. "I forgot you had never drunk before, I should have looked after you better. I'll get you an Elfroot potion from my pack, it should make you feel better in no time." As she rose from her neck Lyla had to stop herself from letting out a disappointed moan, she hadn't realised how nice it was to have Leliana that close. Leliana got out from under the covers of the bed and ran towards her pack, she barely took any time to get the flask out and ran back to the bed motioning Lyla to budge up so she could get in. "Holy Maker. It's so cold out there!" She was shivering as she passed the drink to Lyla who hungrily drank it all.

"Do you want another hug lethallan?" Lyla couldn't help herself, she knew it was wrong to be lusting after her friend. Her clan would disown her if they knew she like women, only Merrill had ever known and she would never have judged her sister. Leliana nodded and offered her arm for Lyla to cuddle up to her which Lyla did slowly, trying not to show how much she wanted to hug her.

"Thank you for sharing with me last night Lyla." Leliana started stroking Lyla's hair as she spoke, bringing soft moans of pleasure from the elf. "I know how hard it must have been for you, I'm so happy you can trust me enough to tell me."

"You mean you still want to be friends?" Lyla was honestly shocked. She had expected Leliana to hate her for what she did to the templars hunting her, the best case that she could have hoped for was that she wasn't hated by the woman but she didn't expect them to be just as close as they had been.

"Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?" Her voice once playful had suddenly turned completely serious. If Lyla had looked up she would have seen Leliana's face was in complete shock. "What happened to you wasn't your fault. I meant what I said last night, I will never let you face your fears alone. I am and always will be here for you Lethallan." Hearing Leliana say the elvish word was too much for Lyla, she cried tears of joy into her friend's chest, she was so happy to not be rejected like she had been by her clan.

"Ma serannas Lethallan. Ma serannas. I was so scared you'd reject me." She looked up to Leliana and for a second it felt as though time froze. She was finally happy, she had been through so much the last two years. She had been living just to survive so Merrill wouldn't suffer but she felt no joy in life. Now she had Leliana her first true friend. She had chosen to be Lyla's friend and chose to stay. They lay in the bed together for a time then realised they needed to get up and ready to get the mages.

**-FTDTD- **

By the time they had gotten washed and dressed in their armour the rest of their companions had already made it down and were sitting around the same table as the night before, eating their morning meal. Alistair looked absolutely miserable making Lyla realise how bad she must have looked before Leliana gave her the potion, she reached for her pack and upon finding an Elfroot potion she brought it over to her fellow Warden. "Drink this Felas, it will make you feel a bit better. Leliana made me one this morning and you look worse than I felt." He took the potion gratefully, not even wasting time to say thank you as he brought the drink to his lips and drank it in one. Instantly colour returned to his cheeks and his face started to return to its usual happy-go-lucky expression.

"Maker Lyla. That drink is almost as bitter as Morrigan." Alistair couldn't help but admire the elf's face as she laughed, her facial tattoos really came to life whenever she smiled. "Andraste's knickers. I am starving, I'll get us some food." He got up from his seat and placed Lyla in it, laughing as he did so. Lyla looked around at the table and saw the raven-haired witch shoot her an evil look for a second before it changed to a neutral expression.

"Morrigan, is it going to be safe bringing you to the circle? Won't the Templars be able to tell you're an Apostate?" Morrigan laughed when she heard the question, she shook her head still laughing then looked back up at Lyla.

"Of course they won't. Templars are idiots, look at the bumbling fool we have with us. I am touched by your concern though." Before Lyla had a chance to reply Alistair had placed a plate of food in front of her.

"She's right Morrigan, they will be able to sense your magic. Our Grey Warden status should protect you but somehow I doubt they will listen to us. Perhaps it will be safer if you remain here." He refused to look up at Morrigan, knowing that she would be giving him a look that could kill.

"I will be perfectly safe Templar. I can look after myself. T'is a simple thing to fool one of you bast-"

"Wait I have an idea. Would they be able to detect your magic if you had changed your form?" Lyla looked delighted with herself, this plan was perfect if she was right. When Morrigan shook her head Lyla continued, trying to keep her voice down. "What if you turn into a raven? You could accompany us in there and they won't know you are a mage, if you sit on my shoulder you can tell me if you see something we don't and it will help perfect the scary wild Dalish look I'm going for." She sat back, bringing a leg of some animal to her mouth watching Alistair whose open and closing mouth made him look an even bigger idiot than before.

"That's. That's genius mon ami. They will be terrified of you, especially if you use your 'I'm so angry I might burst' voice!" Leliana giggled at the idea of it.

"Exactly, so what do you say Morrigan? We are going to be the scariest thing that has graced the tower since it was formed. A Qunari, a Mabari and a crazed Dalish elf storming the tower. They won't know what hit them!" She laughed to herself when she saw Alistair's hurt expression.

"Hey." He whined. "I'm scary too! Watch." He put on his best fighting voice. "Fear me witch!" pointing a finger at Morrigan. The group just sat there dumbfounded for a minute before they all began laughing hysterically. Even Sten joined in. "Fine. I can be the cuddly friendly warden, you can be princess stabbity-stabbity."

"Leliana do you mind going to see when the ferry is ready to leave? I'd ask Alistair but I'm afraid he would just break down and cuddle the Templar." She shot a smile at her friend when Leliana got up and said she would be right back.

**-FTDTD-**

Stepping out into the mid-morning sun Leliana couldn't help but smile. She was thinking about how lovely the night before had been, yes Lyla had bared her soul to the bard and revealed her horrific story and whilst what the elf had experienced upset Leliana she still smiled. She had fallen asleep in her friends arms, her heart leaped as she thought about it. She had honestly never expected to feel this way about someone ever again and the fact that she was made Leliana feel alive for the first time since leaving Orlais.

Looking out towards Lake Calenhad she started to sing softly to herself, the song was the legend of Calenhad the Great. The first king of ferelden. She was lost in her song and walked towards the templars who guard the ferry with no burden to her mind. Her stomach dropped when she finally saw who was at the dock defending the ferry. An injured Templar, he had burns covering half of his face, as if he had fallen in flames, and his hands were severed. _'This must be the one! That evil bastard destroyed her life. How can she possibly face him today?'_ She swallowed and approached the man at the docks.

"Bonjour monsieur." Her Orlesian accent thick as she spoke. "You are a Templar yes?" She smiled and placed her hand on the man's arm, a well-practiced move from her past life. "That life must be so exciting, you must be so brave ser knight."

"Th… Thank you miss. It is terribly exciting, though my life now is little more than a ferry master." The Templar looked down to Leliana and moved his arms to show why.

"Oh" Leliana let out a fake gasp. Her voice sympathetic she continued. "What happened to you ser knight. You are awfully brave to continue on after such an injury."

"A bloody knife-ear Dalish." Leliana had to stop herself from slapping the man, she knew why the elf had done what she had. "She killed all my friends and left me like this, the elves truly are monsters miss. You should stay away from them all to be safe."

Leliana bid her goodbyes and left to return to the tavern. When she entered she saw Lyla facing away from the door and she hadn't spotted the bard. Leliana subtly motioned for Alistair to meet her outside which he luckily understood and making his excuses made for the door.

"What is it sister?" the concern on Alistair's face and voice stripped Leliana of all the confidence she had.

"The story you told me of what might have happened to Lyla." She had promised Lyla that she would never tell another soul of what had happened to her so she pretended that it was just a story Alistair had told her. "Do you see the ferry master?" She moved her arm to point towards the Templar at the docks. "He said he was attacked by a Dalish elf, if he the one from your story?" Alistair's mouth dropped, if it was possible his face went green.

"That's him. Recruit Eduard. What do we do Leliana?" He uncharacteristically used her name he was so shocked.

"Warden, I need you to pick your mouth off the ground and go over to him, find out what he remembers about the woman. I am going to go see the Templar that is standing over there." She pointed to a knight who was buying some wares from a market stall outside the inn. "Then come back to me. If your story is true then we need to protect not only Lyla but the Templars not all of them are evil and not all of them deserve the wrath of an angry Dalish elf." Her voice was stern yet soft as she ordered Alistair about. She knew that he needed direction otherwise he would just fall to pieces.

"Ok sister. Let's just hope Lyla doesn't wonder what we are up to and come out before we have a chance to fix this." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes and he turned away towards the docks.

Leliana walked up to the knight at the stall, she used the walk she had perfected during her time as a bard, it always made everyone stop and stare, even in the unflattering leather armour she was wearing she had noticed that the merchant who owned the stall had already lost his focus on whatever he was doing and was staring at her. She smiled warmly at the merchant and asked if he had any flowers she could buy again speaking with her accent thickened.

"My lady I would be honoured if you let me buy you those." The Templar had not been able to take his eyes of Leliana since he saw her and as she had hoped he gave her all her attention now.

"Merci monsieur. You are a Templar non?" She smiled up at him as she graciously accepted the flowers." I hope it isn't rude but could you tell me what happened to the poor soul who guards the ferry?" She smelt the flowers and smiled at the scent, it reminded her of home.

"Oh Eduard? You don't want to know the full story milady. It is horrific."

"Please Messere. I would like to know what happened to that poor poor man." She smiled sweetly at the man, and placed her hand on his armoured shoulder.

"As you wish miss. His unit was attacked on the way through the Brecillian forest. Now I don't know if you know much about that place miss but it is full of the evil Dalish elves." Leliana again had to stop herself from attacking a Templar. How could they believe the Dalish are evil? "One such warrior attacked the unit. A lone elf. She killed all but him mercilessly he said she fought with the power of a thousand men and she was quicker than lightening, she was untouchable on the battlefield. Apparently she conjured a storm to confuse the men, the fury of the heavens fell from the sky blinding the poor sods. We call that evil little elf Tempest now. Her name is a warning to all Templars. The elves are evil and must be destroyed."

"Tempest? What a strange name, what was this elf like ser?" She had to know just how much the templars knew of Lyla, if they didn't know her face it was possible she could just pretend to be a normal Grey Warden.

"She was tiny. Even by their standards. She had fire red hair and her eyes showed no mercy. Her face tattoos formed a mask and an arrow in her brow. All Templar are warned of her face now. The stories they tell of her serve as a horror story for all new recruits. You will struggle to find a recruit in the last two years who is not terrified of the idea of facing that knife-eared wench." He shook his head in anger, and a flash of fear crossed his eyes.

"Thank you monsieur. You have given me a lot to think about, do you mind if I take my leave and meet my friends?" He smiled at her and let her go. _'Could it be Lyla? He described someone who could be her but the tattoos weren't complete, he didn't mention the dagger to her chin. But then her story is similar to his and I doubt that more than one elf escaped their clutches.'_

She returned to their meeting place outside the tavern and waited for Alistair to return, when he did he wore the grin of the cat who had swallowed the canary. "They're scared of her!" they both said at the same time.

"This is perfect ser Warden. They won't dare turn away our request for help if they can't face her!" She practically squealed as she spoke imagining the knights breaking down in tears before her leader.

"It's not all good news though Sister." Alistair's smile disappeared as his brow tightened and a frown immerged on his face. "Ser Eduard claims the circle has been lost to blood magic. We need to get in there now and find out what is going on." Leliana's face dropped, the day had been going so well for her as well. She told Alistair that she should go speak to Lyla in private first, warn her of Eduard.

When she entered the tavern, Lyla noticed her immediately this time and left her conversation with Sten to walk over to her. Leliana took her by the arm explaining they need to speak in private and walked her back to their room.

"Sit down Lyla." Her words stern but her voice sympathetic. She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her, ready to hold her friend if necessary. "The Templar you told me of last night. He is here now." Panic hit Lyla who collapsed onto the bed. Her last meal threatened to return and she struggled to keep the tears out of her eyes. "Lethallan, don't worry though. I spoke to him. Apparently all the Templars are scared of you, you are known as the Tempest!" She giggled to try and relax Lyla which seemed to work. Lyla rose her head, she was still panicking but her eyes were full of life, Leliana recognised the look, it spoke of someone who had just thought of a crazy idea.

"Tempest? Seriously? Lethallan ma serannas for warning me. The templars won't know what hit them if they refuse me." Her voice low, barely containing the anger behind the elf's masked expression. Leliana had yet to see the elf lose control over her anger but from what she had heard it is truly terrifying to face. "When I enter the tower, with my Mabari on one side and a raven on my shoulder I will be the Dread Wolf himself. They will not know what hit them if they decide to turn my demand for help away." She laughed quietly to herself.

"There's more bad news I'm afraid." Her heart melted as she saw the confidence in her friend disappear as quickly as it appeared. "No nothing concerning you and the templars lethallan. It's about the mages. Apparently the circle of mages has turned to forbidden magic, I can only imagine what the templars are going to do to them mon ami."

"Let's get this over with then lethallan, follow me. We are going to save the seth'lin templars from themselves if need be. I need these mages for the war. We can't do it without them." She smiled warmly at her friend and Lyla walked out to inform the group of their mission.

**-FTDTD-**

The newly polished ironwood armour that used to belong to Lyla's father had been polished, it shined beautifully in the morning sun as Lyla left the tavern. Leliana couldn't help but think that she looked like an angel sent by the maker himself, though she was not stupid enough to tell Lyla that. However with Morrigan perched upon her shoulder in her raven form and Revas closely walking beside her, growling fiercely at anything that moved she looked more like a holy avenger than an angel. As Lyla walked towards the docks Leliana heard the Templar that had given her the flowers whimper and cry out "Holy maker protect me. Tempest is here to enact her vengeance." If Leliana could see Lyla's face she would have seen the elf's face grin that predatory grin that made men run. Lyla drew one of her blades and span it in her hands as she walked towards Ser Eduard. She was secretly terrified but she knew that she couldn't show anymore weakness in front of her team, even letting Leliana in was dangerous. She needed to be the strength that drew them together, if she showed fear then the whole team was done for. The Templar visibly jumped as he saw her. _'Ah he does remember me. The shemlen won't know what hit him if he does anything.'_

"Shemlen we require passage to the Tower." Her voice commanding, it carried out all around the small grass plain that the dock was on. Everyone had stopped to watch this wild woman approach the Templar and they were all listening intently to see what was happening.

"You… it's you isn't it? The T… Tempest." The man looked like he needed a change of armour and his lip trembled as he spoke. "I can't let you across." He tried to sound official and intimidating but failed miserably.

"Look Shem. We have history." Lyla could feel her blood boil, this disgusting creature she hated more than anything in the world was denying her. "I am struggling not to just kill you for it right now. I am a Grey Warden. You will grant me passage." She stepped towards the man, Revas stalked alongside her, growling as he did.

"The commander forbid it. I can't let anyone passed." He was much taller than Lyla but anyone watching could have sworn that he had shrunk beneath her presence.

"**I WILL NOT ASK AGAIN.**" The command shook the man utterly, he almost collapsed from the panic that spread through his body. "If you do not let me across I will kill you. Then I will let myself across." She switched to her mother tongue. "Revas. Walk up to him and scare him, don't hurt him. Yet." The dog followed its command perfectly. It marched up to the Templar and gave a blood-curdling howl that would have made even the bravest of warriors think twice about engaging him.

"Ah… Ok… Okay I will let you across Tempest. Just please don't hurt me!" The man looked down and turned towards the boat, motioning for her party to board.

**-FTDTD-**

Knight-commander Greagoir was busy. The circle had been overrun by demons and his request for the right of annulment had received no reply since he sent for it a month ago. What remained of troops were stuck in the main entrance as they had to shut the locking doors to the rest of the tower for their own safety. He was giving orders to his men when they suddenly fell silent and mouth agape stared over his shoulder. He turned and saw her. The Tempest. Every Ferelden Templar's worst nightmare. This little redheaded elf had destroyed a whole Templar unit after being abused for a month, and now she was here. He hoped she wasn't seeking vengeance as from the look of her and her party they would be able to overwhelm the weakened Templars with no trouble. She commanded the attention of everyone in the room, they couldn't believe they were face to face with such a terrifying beauty. The raven on the elf's shoulder squawked loudly and her Mabari was growling at anyone who moved, but apart from that he could have heard a pin drop.

"Who is in charge here?" The elf's voice had such a commanding presence that most of the templars looked away, too afraid to look her in the eye. One of the closer knights pointed in Greagoir's direction. "You Shem what is going on here? I am a Grey Warden and I demand the cooperation of the mages. This treaty demands it."

Greagoir steeled himself. He had to appear strong in front of his men, if he fell apart in front of this wild woman he would be a laughing stock. In his most commanding voice he answered. "You will find no help here Warden. The circle has fallen, I have sent for the rite of annulment and await its return." He managed to stand to his full height and at a head and half higher than Tempest he felt more relaxed.

"What is the rite of annulment?" Greagoir was about to answer when he realised she had looked behind to one of her men. The knight-commander recognised him as the recruit that was conscripted into the Wardens.

"It's an order to kill all the mages here." He spoke with such resignation that Greagoir found himself doubting that the man could have been a Templar.

"You would kill them all?" The elf's voice suddenly ice cold and directed at him, Greagoir was desperately wishing to be anywhere but here.

"The tower isn't in our control any longer. Abominations and demons walk the halls as if they own it. This is the only way." The commander was angry now, this knife-ear was questioning him? He was terrified of her but he would not let anyone question his judgement when he had been the knight-commander longer than the elf had been alive. "you don't get to question me knife-ear."

"Why do they always insist on insulting her when she's already pissed off?" Greagoir saw the redheaded human woman move her hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle. Looking back at the furious elf in front of him it seemed as though the raven on her shoulder was laughing, if ravens were capable of laughing.

"You threaten to kill innocent people then insult me? Do you not know who I am shemlen? I am not a good person. I have killed for less than what you do." Her voice was so icy that Greagoir felt the blood in his veins freeze.

"What would you have me do then? Let the Demons free?"

"NO! You save the innocent ones." The redheaded woman behind the elf stepped forward shaking her head. "Not all of the mages could have fallen, you would kill the children here just in case? You are despicable Ser knight."

"**IT IS THE ONLY WAY**" Greagoir had snapped, the volume of his voice made the redheaded woman jump. The Mabari growled at him and stepped closer whilst the elf stood tall not flinching when he shouted, she merely scowled at him.

"You are **evil**." The elf's accent was thick obviously struggling to keep control of her emotions. "You templars are all the same. Kill anything that you don't agree with. You will let me and my people in. We will save everyone. Then I will have my army. Is that understood seth'lin?"

"You are not going in. This is my tower and I will not open those doors until the rite of annulment and my reinforcements are here." He spat his reply in the elf's face.

"I was not asking you to let me in." her voice lowered and Greagoir recoiled from her. She turned to Ser Eduard. "You. You have seen what I can do after I have been tortured and abused for a month. You saw me kill your unit after surviving on mouthfuls of bread and even less water. You didn't even manage to injure me despite the fact I was bare. Do you think anyone of you could take me on alone when I am at full strength? What about with my people behind me?" Ser Eduard almost collapsed as her barely contained anger was upon him. Her eyes were aflame with anger as she turned back to the commander. "You will let us in, or we will kill you all and then enter. It is your choice I suggest you make it soon."

"Very well." Greagoir was angry but not stupid. He knew when to concede defeat. "But I will not let you back in until all the mage's are dead or until the first Enchanter tells me it is safe." The elf merely grunted and walked towards the locked doors. He could have sworn that the raven on her shoulder was laughing at him when she walked by.

As soon as the giant doors closed behind the group Morrigan leapt of Lyla's shoulders, transforming back to human form as she fell. She turned to the elf and started laughing hysterically. At first Lyla was confused but then she heard Alistair laughing, then Leliana. The group had just realised how ridiculous the whole situation was. One little elf threatening to kill a tower of Templars, Mages and demons. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**Well this chapter is a little smaller than I would have liked but I think it's a good place to end. Again it will probably be at least Monday until I have finished the next chapter, so I wouldn't hope for it to be uploaded before Tuesday or more likely Wednesday.**_

_**The idea of Lyla being a legend to the templars seemed so funny to me when I thought of it, I hope it's entertaining for you lot as well. **_

_**I never understood why the templars were so willing to let Morrigan in and out of the tower, so when I imagined her perched upon Lyla's shoulder I couldn't resist writing it. The idea was so ridiculous that it seemed to be exactly what Lyla would think **_

_**I'm also currently writing a one-shot of Varric telling Merrill a story about Lyla and Leliana, expect over-exaggerated fighting, loving and more. i dont know when it will be finished but hopefully before the end of next week. **_

_**Have a good weekend and don't forget to favourite and follow. Oh and review of course!**_


	15. Chapter 15 - The Tower and Beyond

Chapter 15 – The Tower and Beyond.

Wynne was shattered. She had been fighting for her life in the tower for the best part of two weeks. Yesterday she had managed to evacuate her group to the lowest level. Her group consisted of five children, and three other mages who had barely passed their harrowing, they were not fighters by any stretch of the imagination and Wynne did not fancy their chances if they were attacked by the demons again. Upon reaching the entrance she had found it locked and Greagoir wouldn't let anyone out, not even the children. She had thought him admirable once, he had been posted to the tower almost as long as she had lived there and she had grown to care for her guardian. But now, she wasn't sure what to think of him, yes the abominations were terrifying, even more so for the mages as they had to see what they would become if they fell to their desires, but to condemn innocent children was unthinkable to the elder mage. She had decided to hole up the children in a room just off the entrance, she had used what little remained of her mana to create a force shield to prevent any demons entering.

"Wynne. You should rest. I can take over the shield for a little." Neria was one of the newer mages to pass the harrowing. She had seen betrayal from her two closest friends just after and had not recovered. One of her friends, Jowan, desired to escape and persuaded her other friend Solana to help. However Jowan used forbidden magic and fled alone, leaving Solana to be taken to the Templar prison. "I am more than capable ma'am. Please you need to sleep, you have barely stopped since the circle fell."

"Thank you child." Wynne smiled at the young elf, she could have kept the shield up for longer but she recognised the need to help in the elf's eyes. "I'll go see to the children."

She had been telling stories to five young children they had managed to save for about an hour when they heard hysterical laughter from behind them, Wynne silently cursed herself for not putting a shield up there as well and stepping protectively in front of her students. She gasped when she saw the group enter, it was the strangest collection of people she had ever seen. The leader of the group was a Dalish elf and Wynne was sure she recognised her from somewhere.

"You. I've seen you before haven't I?" Wynne paused and brought a hand to her forehead deep in thought. "You were at the battle of Ostagar weren't you? The newest Grey Warden recruit?" Age must have finally been catching up to Wynne she did not know how she could possible forgotten the only Dalish elf she had ever seen.

"Yes. We are the only Wardens left. We need the mages for our war." The elf's voice was horrifying, it was ice cold yet carried the signature of someone desperately trying to keep her fury in control. "You were the preachy mage right?" Wynne smiled as she heard the children giggle behind her. Looking back at the little elf in front of her she was amazed to see a transformation on her face. The once angry expression had changed to one of pure joy. "Children? Creators, I had you wrong shem. I thought you were cowardly hiding away from the fighting but now I see you were just protecting your clan."

Lyla stepped past the mage and knelt in front of the children, the eldest one couldn't have been more than ten. He was an elf and was obviously excited at seeing her. "You're Dalish aren't you?" he inquired.

"Yes da'len. You must be the one protecting the old woman." She poked her tongue out towards Wynne causing more giggles from the children. "I'm here to get you all safe. Do you see that big man over there?" She pointed towards Sten. "he is going to be staying here with you in case any monsters appear, I know he looks scary but don't worry has a big softie really. He loves playing with little kittens!" She smiled warmly at the child and patted his shoulder. Turning back towards Wynne she asked for information about what had happened.

Wynne explained how a senior mage, Uldred, had taken the circle by force, using blood magic to summon demons. She did not know how many survived the first wave as she was not in the circle meeting when it happened, she was teaching.

"Have the templars sent you to kill us then elf? It must be desperate if they are willing to use you to do their dirty work Tempest." Wynne spat the nickname at Lyla, she couldn't just let the group kill her and all the mages here.

"Kill you? The only reason I have to kill you is that you're a shemlen, whilst that's usually enough for me I'm trying to calm down a little. Apparently I'm a little too scary for the other warden here." She gestured towards the Blond haired man who had stepped beside her, looking a little hurt at her comment. "I am going to save every innocent mage here Shem. I hate the templars more than you could ever know. I would never work with them."

"She's right ma'am." The blond haired Warden spoke softly. "She threatened to kill every last one of them because they've sent for the rite of annulment." The mages gasped and the elven mage looked visibly shaken.

"So they've sent for it?" Wynne couldn't believe that the man she had grown up with would just kill them all like that.

"Yes shem. As I said though I will not let them. I am going to end this Uldred and then I will bring Irving down here to call the dogs off. I'm leaving Sten here with you to defend you from them until I return." Lyla's eyes shone with determination, she would never let any innocent fall to a Templar blade.

"I will join you Warden. You will have need of my experience with demons and I am very good at creation magic." Lyla looked confused, obviously not understanding the term. "I am a healer, child."

"Are all shemlen so strange?" She turned towards her group of friends. "Seriously they either want to kill me outright or join me. What is wrong with you people?" The group chuckled at the strange elf who turned back towards Wynne. "We do need a healer, our mage is not capable of it. Very well you may join us but stay towards the back, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I'm coming too." Neria stepped forward. "I will protect Wynne and I am more than capable with primal magic and I need to see Uldred brought to justice for what he's done."

"And now a flat-ear wants to join me as well? By the creators. Leliana, have you got a sign behind my back willing idiots to join me?" The redhead human behind them laughed and said no. "Fine flat-ear you can come along as well. The more idiots the merrier I suppose. Although her words were insulting they were said softly without the intent to upset. "You may both call me Lyla or Warden if you really must."

**-FTDTD-**

They had fought through the first floor of the tower with ease. When they had entered the first room and the demons had appeared the group had panicked at first. It's very hard not to panic in front of those monsters. They had faced three rage demons, whose lava based body would have caused problems for the group's weaponry if it wasn't for Neria, she had cast a frost spell on the group's equipment meaning they could easily damage the magma creatures. Lyla had silently cursed herself for not wanting to bring her along at first she was proving invaluable already.

As they reached the second floor their noses were assaulted with the scent of rotting flesh, it made them all retch and Leliana couldn't help but throw up. As Lyla strolled ahead of the group, not even checking if they were following, Neria walked next to Alistair.

"Mister Warden? Wynne said that the other Warden was a recruit were you as well?" She spoke quietly not wanting anyone else to hear.

"Please call me Alistair but no I have been a Grey Warden for about a year and a half now." He saw the confusion on her face and continued in a hushed tone. "I'm guessing you wonder why she's in charge. Well can you imagine her actually doing anything I said?" He gave her a dorky smile and she had to move her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh. "But honestly I am not a good leader. She was leading hunting parties before I even became a Warden, she is a natural leader. I am not"

"I suppose that makes sense mist- sorry Alistair." She looked ahead at Lyla who had reached her hand down to rest it on her dog. "She seems so scary most of the time but then sometimes she can just be so normal. I don't understand her." She said to no one in particular.

"You think she's scary now?" Alistair laughed loudly getting questioning looks from Wynne and Leliana. "You haven't seen her lose her temper yet Neria. Now that's scary. She had the templars in the entrance shaking like children before we met you. It would have been hilarious if I wasn't so terrified as well." She laughed as well, imagining the Templars she had grown up surrounded by being so scared of the little elven leader. "Believe me when I say she is very much the scary Warden though. You don't want to see what happens when she is insulted. I on the other hand, I am the cuddly Warden. Her nickname not mine." He made her laugh again.

"Felas." Lyla shouted behind her not turning back. "You forget how good my ears are. You are the cuddly one! Now you can either accept that role or you ca-"She stopped suddenly drawing her blades, instantly everyone else was ready for combat.

Lyla had spotted a monstrous creation ahead, it looked like the rotting remains of a man yet the flesh on its upper torso was all wrong. It was bulbous and blood red, it looked as if someone had heard a rough description of a human and tried to recreate it. Badly. Instead of human hands, its arms were elongated and ended in sharp claws which were dripping with red liquid. Lyla stopped herself from screaming but heard a whimper from behind her, she didn't need to look to recognise Leliana's voice. She stepped forward unsure whether the monster would attack outright or whether it would be friendly but as she got closer four more came out of adjoining rooms swarming her, they definitely were not friendly. Lyla shot forward her sword pointed ahead, hoping to at least get one of them before she was overwhelmed. Her sword pierced the flesh of the first monster, the frost spell on her blade freezing the wound but the monster just shook it off and kept going towards her.

She felt that familiar feeling of boiling blood, the sound of it pumping round her body loud in her ears, she decided now would be the best time to lose herself to the sound of it. To let the rage take over. She saw the monsters claw pierce her skin but she did not feel it.

Alistair was running towards his fellow warden, he could not see her as the monsters had surrounded her. As he got close he heard an inhuman roar, it sent shivers down his spine as he realised that the monsters must have gotten Lyla but as he swung his sword at the closest creature he saw her. Blood flowing from wounds that she hadn't even noticed she was expertly swinging her weapons at the things attacking her, killing anything close, two of the five monsters were already dead before he managed to kill his first. He saw her eyes and was even more scared of her than he was of the demons he was fighting, she held no emotion in her eyes but rage, and he could have sworn that they were glowing red with the fury behind her. The other two abominations were killed quickly by combination of the spells from the three mages, Revas and Leliana.

He backed away from Lyla unsure of what was happening to her as she screamed again, this time it was definitely natural. She was finally feeling the pain of the injuries she had obtained in the fight, her rage no longer masking it. Her body felt like it was on fire, she had not experienced pain like this in a long time, looking at her body she saw all the cuts and wounds from the fight and was amazed she hadn't felt them during the fight, her anger was a great anaesthetic. Wynne ran to her and reached out her arm. Glowing blue energy flew from her hands to Lyla's injuries, she quickly felt the warm, happy feeling of the magic as it spread through her body making her feel rejuvenated and alive again.

"Ma serannas Wynne." She got to her feet and picked up her weapons. "I don't know how I managed that but I think I would prefer not to get so injured again but we have no time to waste so let's go." She started walked towards central room to reach the next floor and suddenly stopped. "Morrigan, I think we could use you as a melee fighter right now, these corridors are too compact for use to have three ranged fighters. I need you next to me in these fights. Felas is my right hand you are my left." Morrigan nodded and transformed into a great bear much to the disbelief of Wynne and Neria. Revas whined sadly at Lyla who turned to him and spoke in elvish. "Don't worry my friend, they are my hands, you are my teeth. You are more important to me than anything my freedom." And with a scratch behind his ears she walked on towards the unknown.

"What in the name of the maker was that?" Alistair spoke to himself, he was really concerned about his friend.

"I have heard stories about similar warriors." He turned his head to see Leliana walking beside him, an arrow already nocked in her bow ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Dwarven warriors who lose themselves to their anger on the battlefield, they are the most terrifying thing a person can face. I have never heard of an elven berserker before but it sounds like her no?" He was inclined to agree with Leliana, he had heard of berserkers before but they were in the service of the Ash Warriors, he had never heard of a lone berserker before. He couldn't think of anything to say and by the time he turned to Leliana he found she had taken her place next to Wynne. He caught up to Lyla and bear that was Morrigan, walking in silence.

**-FTDTD-**

They made their way up so many floors that Lyla had lost count but she knew that they needed to be at the top. They had fought many more demons and abominations and even more possessed templars who were doing the bidding of other demons. And as she walked towards the stair case to the next floor she heard someone. The bear next to her had perked up as well, Morrigan had obviously heard it, and she turned towards where she heard it come from and opened the door.

Inside was a lone Templar and a desire demon standing front of him. Like all desire demons Lyla had seen she was human looking but also slightly off. She wore no clothing and her sex was visible for the world to see, her breasts covered by unmoving hair. She was whispering into the Templars ears.

"What's that sound my love?" The Templar asked. The demon had obviously entranced him to her will.

"Someone at the door my pet. You put the children to bed, I will get it." The demon turned towards Lyla furious.

"Andruil's great bow. What is going on here?" Lyla was flabbergasted, she had never seen demons before today and had no wish to see many others.

"You are intruding on a loving and intimate moment and I dislike disruptions." The demon walked towards the group as she spoke.

"Seth'lin. What have you done to that shemlen?" Lyla didn't understand the power that the demon had, it was worrying her.

"I have simply given him his greatest desire, a loving family." The demon sounded proud, that enraged Lyla, she didn't care about the Templar at all but the fact that a demon could trick someone into happiness was disgusting.

"Mythal protect me. Halem sahlin." She ran towards the demon sword raised to attack.

"Love its bandits. Protect me!" the demon screeched a banshees scream and attacked as the Templar raised his sword and shield to attack her. Lyla was too busy attacking the demon to notice so when the Templar thrust his shield out to knock her to the ground he succeeded. She fell to the floor her swords flying out of her grasp and she looked up at the Templar who was about to kill her. He raised his sword to swiftly bring it down and end her when a giant stone fist flew into him, breaking his body as he flew across the room. Then a bear jumped across Lyla's body taking the demons head and ripping it clean from her body.

"Ma serannas Falonen. You saved my life. Morrigan I hope the demon doesn't taste too bad." She rose to her feet and patted the bear awkwardly on its shoulder then turned towards Neria who had fired the stone fist. "I am in your debt flat-ear, if I can repay it I will."

"You can start by not calling me flat-ear. I am a knife-ear like yourself. I was Dalish before I came here." Lyla's shock broke the stern look on her face but before she could ask Neria continued. "But that is a story for a kinder place can we move on?"

The left the room after Lyla patted her new elven friend on the back, not looking at her companions she carried on towards the stairs but paused at the door to the room. She heard voices in there and wanted to form a plan before they entered, a group of mages was a formidable enemy.

"There are mages in there. I do not know if they are hostile but we must treat them as such until we know otherwise." She gathered her large group around her. "Alistair I will charge in but I need you to be just behind me, I am the sword you are my shield, protect our group. Morrigan if there is two groups you run for the other one, if not then I need you to transform back to yourself and protect our mages. Neria, Wynne you are to concentrate on keeping Alistair and I at full strength, Wynne use that spell you used on me earlier, it made me fight with the strength of a Qunari. Leli take out anyone we miss, I need your voice as well, if you are singing it will put the group off, I don't want them to have any advantage over us. Understood?" the group nodded collectively and she turned towards the door and spoke in her mother tongue. "Think you can keep up with me Revas?" as she burst through the doorway.

Lyla was almost glad to see that there was only four mages in the room, she had been expecting a lot more but when they saw her come in she was immediately frozen in place. Alistair made the same mistake she did and as he approached them the floor rose to capture him in a stone prison. Lyla screamed for her group to get out but she couldn't get the words out as she saw Morrigan leap into the room as a wolf, she was too quick for the mages to freeze in place and managed to get to the nearest one. Fortunately mages don't like to wear armour so the wolf was easily able to rip the man's throat out freeing Alistair from his cage. Lyla was still trapped and helpless and panic started to set in but she felt a little better as she saw spells and arrows fly past her. _'At least some of my people aren't as thick as me. Come on Leli get the seth'lin who has trapped me. My blades need his blood.'_

As if answering her prayer the next arrow that flew past her shoulder found itself in a mages chest, freeing Lyla. She charged, screaming as she ran, Alistair and Morrigan had managed to take out one of the mages but the last one was proving difficult. She had managed to conjure an armour made of stone to surround her body and nothing was penetrating it. Lyla tried once to get her blade through the armour and gave up, instead she used her sword to slice the mages staff in two. The spell lifted immediately and the mage fell to the floor.

"Mercy! Please don't kill me!" She screamed as Lyla crouched over her with bloodlust in her eyes.

"Why in Elger'nan's name shouldn't I kill you witch?" Her voice full of venom.

"I know I have no right to ask for mercy, but I didn't mean for these deaths and this destruction. We just wanted to be free from the templars. From the Chantry." She gasped as she took in a breath, the pain grounding her and she had to wait a few seconds before she could continue. "Uldred told us that the Circle would support Loghain and that he would support freedom from the Chantry."

"I can't fault you for that." Lyla knelt down right next to the woman. "But you attacked me and my people. Falon'Din guide you to the beyond." She brought her dagger swiftly across the woman's throat. Killing her.

"Another crime Loghain will answer to. Bastard." Alistair spat on the floor. "Let's continue Lyla, I've had enough of blood magic for a life time."

They followed the room along until Wynne asked them to stop. She went into a doorway explaining it was Irving's office. Walking in they saw it had been ransacked and Wynne struggled to stop the tears flowing, fearing for her old friend.

"Abelas Wynne. Alistair take her outside to collect her thoughts, let's move out. We can't be far off now." She motioned for Leliana to stay with her. "Leli. I can't ask you to do this but I think we need everything we can get to defeat this evil. Could you please open that chest there? I've a feeling we may need what is inside it." Leliana struggled with her conscience for a moment before realised Lyla was right, they needed every advantage they could get against these mages. She went to work on the chest and it was quickly unlocked. The only item inside of it was an old book. It was bound in black leather and embroidered with the design of a tree. Lyla quickly placed it in her pack before leaving the room, no one had noticed they stayed longer than the rest of them and she quickly moved on before anyone questioned her.

She opened the door at the far end of the hallway and upon entering she saw bodies all around the room, the walls were covered in disgusting bulbous flesh and in the centre of the circular room stood a creature not unlike the ones she had been fighting. It noticed them and walked towards her.

"Oh. Look. Visitors… I'd entertain you but…Too much effort involved." The monster spoke as if it struggled to say each word, it sounded so very tired. Listening to it talk was draining the energy from Lyla but she managed to reply anyway.

"Killing demons." She had to stop to yawn and heard the rest of her party yawning behind her. "Is enough entertainment for me." She rubbed her eyes, why was she so sleepy all of a sudden?

"Can't keep… Eyes… Open." She heard Alistair say as she collapsed to the floor.

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla woke up, she heard the rain hitting a wooden roof. She could smell the familiar incense that Ashalle lit in her aravel. She was home, of course she was. The last thing she remembered was coming back from the war. They had finally defeated the archdemon and won against the darkspawn. She had managed to track down her clan using the Grey Wardens help and elected to stay with them instead of the Wardens. Alistair didn't mind he was just so happy for her and with his new position of Warden-Commander of Ferelden he let her retire from the Wardens.

"_Sister! You're awake?" She heard Merrill shout. "Well if you weren't I suppose you are now. I shouldn't have shouted should I?"_

"_Merrill! Emm'asha! I missed you." She jumped out of her bedroll and ran out to her sister. Grabbing her in a big hug and spinning around whilst laughing wildly._

"_I don't know why you would lethallan. We only spoke yesterday." Merrill sounded confused but not as confused as Lyla was. She could remember yesterday but it seemed strange, off somehow. Like it was a dream. _

"_Of course but I spent so long away from you lethallan I don't want to be parted from my family again!" she kissed her sisters cheek and let go._

"_Lethallan!" Merrill laughed at her sister's unusual show of affection. "I'm sorry to interrupt this loving person you've become but the Keeper needs to speak to you." She pushed her sister towards the Keepers aravel. "Don't keep her waiting, it sounded important."_

_Lyla laughed happily as she left her sister and walked towards the aravel, she knocked on her door and waited to be invited it. The door opened and an extremely angry Marethari dragged Lyla inside, who was extremely confused._

"_**You loved her didn't you?!**__" The Keeper screamed at Lyla who had no idea what she was going on about. "__**A shemlen! Len'alas lath'din!**__ You fell in love with a female shemlen you disgust me Mahariel." Lyla felt tears form in her eyes but was confused as well. She didn't realise she had loved anyone but memories of a redheaded human flashed in her head. "You are going to be punished elvhen'alas. We have already killed the shemlen and now you will be punished properly for your crime." _

Two hunters grabbed Lyla by the arms, she didn't recognise them and fear filled her body. They had killed Leliana and Lyla was going to be punished, she knew that meant torture but she didn't care anymore, the Keeper was right. She had betrayed her people by falling for the shemlen. She deserved it.

* * *

_**Authors note.**_

_**Well here we are the beyond/fade. Prepare for it to be very different than in game. As I said it really bores me in game and doesn't really fit in with my characters so it's been changed. For the better though I hope. This chapter wasn't as long as I had wanted but I felt this was a perfect place to end it.**_

_**I hope you recognised the addition of Neria Surana. The elven mage origin. I think the game is sorely lacking in elven companions so I decided that she should at least join them in the tower!**_

_**Translations**_

_**Halem sahlin – this ends now.**_

_**Falonen – Friends.**_

_**Abelas – Sorrow but is used as an apology as well.**_

_**Emm'asha – My girl.**_

_**Len'alas lath'din – Dirty child no one loves.**_


	16. Chapter 16 - Beyond the Fade

_**Author's note.**_

_**Apologies for the delays. I had a serious case of writers block and i rewrote this a lot. More notes after the chapter!**_

_**Update: Woops, i accidentally had leliana calling the Fade the Beyond. Changed it all now though.**_

Chapter 16 – Beyond the Fade.

Lyla had been beaten badly. She was tied to the post in the middle of her camp and anyone who passed her would spit on her in disgust. She didn't care though, she knew she deserved it. She had betrayed all it means to be Dalish by falling for Leliana. As a woman it was her duty to provide children for the other Dalish, it didn't matter that she was a hunter or a Warden as soon as she was with child she would have given up her life to raise the children. It was the way they had survived for so long and it was the only way her people would be strong enough and have enough numbers to survive.

_Lyla fought tears from falling as she saw Merrill approach her, she was disgusted at herself for betraying the clan and she felt even worse when she saw her sister's disgusted face walking towards her._

"_Why did you do it Lyla?" Merrill sounded so disgusted that it broke Lyla. She let the tears fall from her eyes and mask her face._

"_I don't know Merrill. She was nice to me and listened when I was alone. She was all I had when I thought I had been abandoned!" her voice was breaking as she spoke and she barely managed to get the words out. "You know I like women I can't help my perversions! I regret it so much Sister."_

"_YOU ARE NOT MY SISTER!" Merrill screamed at Lyla her face merely inches away from the other elf's face. "You gave that up when you abandoned the Elvhen! You knew our laws and ignored them anyway!" Merrill slapped Lyla hard. The force brought more tears to Lyla's face who just wanted everything to be over now. She had given up, the only people who ever cared about her were either dead or hurting her. She had no reason to live anymore._

"_I'm sorry. I hate myself more than you can imagine Merrill. I hope you can forgive me." Merrill cackled in response to Lyla's words. She brought her staff up and aimed it at Lyla firing lightening into her body and causing Lyla to scream with pain._

"_You don't get to be forgiven Alas'lin. You are worse than the shemlen you loved. You are already dead to the clan you have been for a long time. Why do you think the keeper cast you away?" Merrill laughed wildly and again cast a lightening spell towards Lyla._

"_I'm sorry. Punish me as you must lethallan. It's what I deserve." Disgust and pain were all that Lyla could feel now, she had given up. She didn't care anymore that her body was being destroyed, it was the right thing to do to her. Merrill taunted her and tortured her some more before the sound of fighting at the edge of camp stopped her._

**-FTDTD-**

"Sister Leliana?" A voice broke through Leliana's meditation. She opened her eyes and for a moment didn't know where she was but is soon came back to her. She was praying in the Lothering Chantry, if she remembered correctly she had been meditating for an answer of what her vision meant.

It started with pitch black darkness. She had never been scared of the dark but in the vision it terrified her. It cleared up a bit and she was revealed to be standing on a mountain top watching Ferelden from above. The darkness was slowly enveloping the country before her eyes until it had swallowed all of the country and slowly rose up towards her. It took the mountain in its stride and continued until it eventually blocked out the sun. Leliana fell forwards off the mountain and screamed until she was caught by a face she didn't know. It was Lyla. That was why she knew she had to follow her, it was why she knew she had been sent by the Maker to help fight the blight.

"Sister? Are you ok?" The voice spoke again and Leliana looked towards it, recognising its owner as the Grand Cleric of Lothering.

"Why am I here?" Leliana could feel something was wrong with the place, the stained glass windows looked slightly wrong but she didn't know how. The walls were all exactly as they should have been but felt off. It was extremely confusing. "I should be following my vision. How can I stay here when there is a Blight?"

"Leliana." The voice was extremely patronising. "We both know that there was no vision. You merely had a bad dream."

"No! It was a vision!" Leliana anger flowed through her words. The mother had believed her before or at least humoured her, why wasn't she now?

"Stupid girl. It was a dream, which is why you need to meditate. Mend your broken mind and broken heart." The Cleric's voice was still extremely patronising but something about it was odd. It almost seemed to have a second tone, a deeper, darker voice in the distance.

"No I am leaving. I must help fight the Blight. It is my calling!" Leliana stood up and started to walk out but was stopped by the Grand Cleric who grabbed her by the arm. Leliana looked down and noticed for the first time she was wearing leather armour and was carrying weapons, something was very wrong. She would not have been permitted to wear these in the Chantry.

"**YOU ARE OURS. YOU ARE GOING NOWHERE GIRL.**" The deeper tone that Leliana had noticed was the dominant voice this time and as the Cleric spoke her body faded away leaving a demon in its place.

"Holy Maker." Leliana drew a dagger from her belt and sliced at the arm holding her making the demon scream. It was different than the rage demons she had previously fought. It had grey skin which was covered in places with black leather, its arms longer than a humans and ending in sharp talons. If Leliana had had a chance to look down she would have seen it had no legs, its body was supported by black smoke. She held her dagger in a reverse hold and attacked the demon, praying to the Maker as she did. Her attack found the throat of the demon who was not expecting an attack so quickly and it fell to the floor dead. "She was a demon! I must be in the Fade. Why don't I remember?" She said aloud to no one in particular. As if in answer to her question a doorway appeared in front of her. She didn't know why or where it had come from but she somehow knew it would lead her to Lyla. She knew that she needed to save her friends so she stepped through the door.

_Leliana found herself in a forest, she knew it was in the Fade but she could smell the wet earth below her, she saw and felt the gorgeous trees and undergrowth and had to force herself to believe she was not in the real world. She walked on away from the door she had entered choosing a direction at random until she heard screaming. She knew in her heart that it was Lyla. Drawing her bow she started running towards the sound and swiftly came upon a Dalish encampment. _

_She crouched down just outside the settlement and was about to sneak inside when an arrow flew past her left ear to hit the tree in front of her. She suppressed a scream and instinctively dived to the ground, twisting in the air to fire an arrow towards where that one had come from. Not wanting to stay still she ran towards the enemy she couldn't see and dropped her bow, drawing her dagger. She knew that if it was Dalish attacking her she would have no chance at range, Lyla was leagues ahead of her with the bow and she was not even any good compared to the rest of her clan. She stopped when she saw her arrow embedded in a tree, slowly turning trying to listen for any movement when suddenly an elf flew out of the bushes towards her, he held a sword and dagger similar to the type that Lyla used and they were aimed directly at the bard. She barely had enough time to hit the floor before the man's sword hit the place her neck had been, she span on the floor and drove her dagger into the elf's hamstring, not stopping until she felt it hit bone and then she twisted it. The elf screamed in pain and fell to the floor, his leg not able to hold his weight any longer. Leliana ended his life by bringing her dagger through his chest, she jumped in surprise when his body transformed into a demon before disappearing. She was definitely in the Fade. Picking up the fallen elf demon thing's weapons she continued into the camp, hoping to find Lyla before the clan found her._

_Lyla had fallen unconscious quickly after Merrill had left but was rudely awakened by a frenzy of orlesian curses. Opening her eyes she saw Leliana and felt her blood boil._

"_Shem!" She managed to spit. "Why are you here? You should be dead." The venom in her voice made Leliana step back, she had never heard Lyla speak to her like this before._

"Lyla. Lethallan you are in the Fade." She swallowed the lump in her throat at seeing her friend so beaten and being so hostile. "This isn't real Lethall-"

"_**NO. YOU DON'T GET TO CALL ME THAT SHEMLEN.**__" Lyla screamed both in pain and anger. Then her voice dropped to a whisper as it broke. "This is all your fault. I wouldn't have betrayed the clan if it wasn't for you."_

_Before Leliana had a chance to respond a voice behind made her turn around. "Step away from the blood traitor shemlen. You are as guilty as her, you will not get to leave." _

"_Be gone demon. By the Maker I will kill you if you come any closer." Leliana brought her borrowed weapons up to show she was serious but it didn't deter the woman from raising her staff to send a spell towards Leliana. Lightening flew towards the bard who had mere seconds to get out of the way and nearly did, the spell caught her legs as she dived to the ground, burning her badly. Crying out in pain as the elf approached her Leliana realised she only had one shot to defeat this demon in elf form. _

"_Please. Please don't kill me!" Leliana pleaded. "I only wanted to save my friend." She smiled inwardly when the elf stalked towards her and waited until she was right on top of her. When she was Leliana jumped up, ignoring all the pain she felt and drove her sword through the belly of the elf._

"_**MERRILL!**__" Lyla screamed. "__**ALAS'LIN SHEMLEN YOU KILLED MY SISTER. I WILL END YOU.**__" She screamed at Leliana._

"_No. Lyla she's a demon. It's not Merrill. I'm your friend I would never hurt your family." Leliana looked down at Merrill's body and was relieved to see it transform into a demon like the other elf._

"_I. I don't understand shem." Lyla's anger was still leaking through her words but she had calmed down a little when she saw the body transform. "Is this the Beyond? Why did you kill my sister?" tears started to fall down her face. "Shemlen let me out of these chains and tell me what is going on."_

_Leliana did as she was asked and quickly told Lyla all she knew. She was distraught to see the elf fall to her knees crying. "I saw you kill my sister. I know it wasn't real but I saw it." Her body shook as she sobbed. "I saw my sister die. I feel so much grief yet I know she isn't dead. I don't know what to feel anymore." Leliana bent down to hold the elf but was pushed away. "It sounds stupid but I need time Shem. I know it wasn't her but I saw you kill her. It's taking all my willpower right now not to just break and end you." Standing up and wiping her eyes Lyla was amazed to feel no pain, her body seemed to have healed itself as soon as her sister demon died. "I need to kill the seth'lin demon that caused all this." She walked off leaving Leliana to find a bow and then follow her._

_Lyla was angry? Sad? She didn't know what to feel. So many emotions had flown through her recently that she was wishing that she didn't feel anything. She had been tortured by her clan, well by demons, for falling for Leliana and had started to believe what they were saying, which wasn't difficult as it seemed they were just piling onto her own insecurities. Then when she had finally given up on life and her feelings for Leliana she was saved by the bard who then killed her sister. Well a demon who was pretending to be her sister but it still hurt. Lyla decided to bring that mask of anger down that she used so often and push the conflicting emotions to the back of her head. She could sort out her mind when her party was safe._

_The path back out of the forest and to the doorway was filled with demons which in Lyla's enraged mood were taken down easily, Leliana had barely needed to fire an arrow Lyla was that fast in slaughtering them. _

"_Lyla. Are you ok?" they had been walking in silence since Leliana freed her and Leliana was extremely worried._

"_I don't want to talk about it." Leliana felt her blood freeze from Lyla's terse reply._

"_Lyla. Let me in. please, I care about you." She knew it wasn't the best time to talk but the tension was killing her._

"_I saw my sister die. I saw you kill her shemlen. No talking." Lyla spat._

"I'm so-"

"_**NO TALKING.**__" Lyla growled._

**-FTDTD-**

Lyla exited the forest first, she wanted this nightmare over and fast. The room they were in was completely different than the one Leliana had come from. It was a long corridor with barred doors lining each side, the walls were cobblestone and all out of place, it had the same strange feeling that Leliana had felt in the Fade Chantry.

"_It looks like a prison." Leliana broke the silence that had overcome them since Lyla had shouted at her._

"_I wouldn't know. Let's just get this over with." Lyla had relaxed slightly, she was trying not to blame Leliana for all that she had seen but was struggling. She walked to the first door she could reach and pulled it open. Inside was a ramshackle house. There was just the one room that she could see and in the centre of it was a long table. Sitting at the table was Alistair who was surrounded by a group of children and an older blonde haired woman who looked somewhat similar to her fellow Warden._

_She stepped through and Leliana was not far behind. "Felas. Time to leave these things are all demons."_

"_Oh people always say that about their family Lyla." He turned and smiled up at her. "How strange I was just thinking about you and here you are. Leliana too! It's so good to see you both."_

"_She is a demon Alistair trust me." Leliana pleaded, trying to end this peacefully but when she saw Lyla walk towards the woman he was sitting with she knew that wouldn't happen._

"_Who is this?" Lyla pointed her sword at the woman, the tip of which was just shy of the woman's exposed neck. "Show yourself demon." She looked towards the woman when Alistair didn't answer._

"_Stop! Stop! Lyla she's my sister. Goldanna. These are her lovely children! You can't hurt her, why don't you sit down? She could make us her special" Lyla couldn't contain herself any longer, she had no time to waste pandering to Alistair's illusions. She stabbed her sword straight through the neck of Goldanna._

"_**IT'S A DEMON.**__" She felt the warm blood hit the side of her face as she saw Alistair's face break, he was devastated to see his sister die. She turned to see the body drop and smiled inwardly as she saw it turn to a demon._

"_She… She was a demon? I don't understand." Alistair looked between the children, Lyla and Leliana. The children had started to fade away as he spoke._

"_You are in the Fade Alistair. Don't worry we have all experienced something similar. You're with friends now, we are real mon ami." Leliana smiled warmly at him and knelt down to place her hand over the Wardens trembling hands._

"_Thank you." He shook his head slightly. "Lyla. Thank you for doing it so quickly. I would never have believed you. You saved me from this nightmare." Realisation hit Lyla. She had just done the same thing to Alistair as Leliana had done to her but he had thanked her. She was an idiot. Blaming Leliana was cruel and unnecessary, she would have to apologise when this was all over._

"_The beyond was just as cruel to me Felas. Come let's go save the rest." She tried to smile warmly at the man but fell flat, she just wasn't feeling good enough to do it. "I have a demon to destroy." She let the scowl fall back on her face knowing that anger was her best weapon right now."_

_Alistair rose from the table and walked to a closet in the house, from inside he pulled his weapon and shield. He then turned to follow Lyla who was already walking out of the door back to the Fade prison._

"_Felas you take that room, Leli you're with me." She hoped that taking Leliana with her would show she didn't blame her anymore but when she saw Leliana's grimace at being tasked with her she realised it didn't work. "Fine. Leliana you go with him." With that she stormed off alone._

_Opening the next door she found Neria. She was standing in the middle of a room that Lyla assumed was in the mage tower. Neria was accompanied by two human mages, a male and a female. They were sitting at a table laughing and joking around._

"_Lethallan. Time to go. We are in the beyond." She reached for Neria's shoulder aiming to pull her away from the table._

"_Stop elf. You can't take our friend away from us." The male mage stood up and walked towards her, motioning to two templars who had appeared behind her. "We know who you are Tempest. You can't kill any more of our people."_

"_Neria!" Lyla shouted as her arms were grabbed by the templars. "You must help me. We are being trapped by demons, these are not your friends. They are demons!" she struggled against the templars stronger arms as panic began to cloud her mind._

"_I'm sorry Tempest but I wouldn't help you even if I could. I don't know how you know my name but I can't help someone as evil as you." Neria fear bled through her words._

"_Neria, you know me. I am Dalish like you. How could I know that if we weren't friends? You told me after we killed a desire demon. Please remember!" she pleaded wildly._

"_That… That seems familiar." Neria was shaking her head towards the demons masquerading as mages. "Your name is Lyla?"_

"_YES!" she broke free of one of the templars, drawing her dagger from her belt and span to stab it into the man she hadn't escaped. "You saved my life, now let me save you." Suddenly with the grace that only a well-trained Dalish hunter could possess she threw one dagger directly at the female humans chest whilst simultaneously drawing her sword and running at the male. _

"_Solana!" Neria shouted as the female fell. Lyla then heard a gasp as the human body transformed into a demons. "Demons? We are in the fade." Neria pointed her staff at the male and as Lyla was about to slay him a fireball engulfed his body._

"_Abelas Lethallan. Come we have no time to waste. We need to find the others and save the tower."_

**-FTDTD-**

Leliana and Alistair walked towards the door Lyla gave them in silence, she was glad that Lyla sent her with Alistair in the end. Having the elf shout at her again would have been enough to break her heart. She knew that Lyla was hurting because of her and it was killing Leliana.

_Alistair entered the room first, he found himself in the tower again almost believing he was free from the Fade until he saw Wynne. At her feet were two dead bodies. A Templar and a baby. Wynne fell to her knees crying and Leliana quickly pushed past Alistair to comfort the mage, leaving Alistair standing in shock._

"_My baby." Wynne repeated through sobs. Her whole body shaking as Leliana put her arm around her._

"_Wynne, I can't imagine how hard this must be for you but you are in the Fade. This is just a conjuration from a demon." Leliana's accent striking as she struggled to not cry at the sight of the dead child._

"_My baby dead. All because I couldn't protect him. It's all my fault." Wynne continued as though she hadn't heard the bard._

"_Wynne. Look at me please." Leliana moved her head into the vision of the older woman and smiled warmly at her when she rose her eyes to meet Leliana's. "I promise you this is the Fade. I know this is confusing but you must believe me, you have been trained to understand the Fade no? If you concentrate perhaps you will be able to tell." Wynne froze and held Leliana's gaze for a moment before realisation flooded her face._

"_You are right Leliana. The demon who made me see this must pay. I can't believe I fell for such an illusion." She stood and wiped her eyes._

"_I'm afraid you may have to join the queue Wynne." Alistair smiled as he walked towards her. "And as angry as you may be, I don't think you can compare to Lyla. I don't know what she saw but well…" He let his voice trail off, realising this probably wasn't what Wynne wanted to hear._

"_As if I could ever compete with that elf's anger." Wynne smiled at Alistair but it never reached her eyes. "Can we leave now? I ache to leave this place." Alistair motioned towards the door and led the group out._

_Back in the Fade prison Lyla re-joined her companions, she tried to smile at Leliana but the bard avoided her gaze sending Lyla into another fury._

"_Do animals go into the fade Shem?" She said to anyone in her group, she didn't care who answered._

"_Yes. I assume you are talking about your hound?" Wynne answered. "He should be here somewhere."_

"_Ma serannas. We have two people left then, Revas and Morrigan. Neria, Wynne and Alistair you stick together in that room there. Leliana with me, I need you" Her face flushed as she realised what she said and hastily added. "And your bow." She looked to the floor letting her face cool and then looked up at the group before turning silently and walking towards the door._

_Entering the door Lyla found herself in Flemeth's hut. She saw a very agitated Morrigan standing up to Flemeth._

"_Away. Away with you. I shall have no more of your pestering." Morrigan waved her hand dismissively._

"_I am your mother." Flemeth's voice was odd. It was definitely her own but it had a strange tone to it, one that Lyla had never heard used before, if she didn't know better she would say it was warmth. "Do you not love me?"_

"_You are as much my mother as my little finger is the queen of Ferelden." Morrigan's frustrated voice coupled with her words was enough to make Lyla and Leliana burst into a fits of giggles, finally notifying the witches of their presence. "Finally! Quickly kill this spirit and let us be out of this foul place." _

_A slapping sound rung out as Flemeth's right hand met Morrigan's cheek. "This 'foul place' is your home! Treat it with respect."_

"_That is far more like it but too little too late. Let's kill it now!" she brought her staff up but Flemeth batted it away effortlessly. Lyla ran the short distance between her and the witch bringing her dagger up and thrust it through Flemeth's chest. The body dropped and like all the others transformed into the demon it really was._

"_T'is about time. That was most annoying. The foul thing couldn't even read my mind well enough to form a true replica of her. I can't wait to kill it." Lyla wondered and not for the first time whether having such a bloodthirsty group was helpful for their cause but soon dropped the thought as her anger towards the demon roused again._

**-FTDTD-**

_Stepping back into the Fade prison Lyla saw her companions waiting for her and was quickly knocked from her feet by Revas. "My little friend, I am so glad you are ok. I have seen so much horror in here, I needed you my freedom." She spoke softly in elvish. Returning to her feet she addressed her group. "Well there is only one door left, I suppose there's no way I can split us up this time? I don't know what we may face in there but I only ask that you please let me have the killing blow. I will have nan." Growling as she spoke she turned to the door and stormed off towards it. Her fury boiling her blood and she could hear the familiar pounding in her ears that let her know she was close to unleashing her rage._

_Inside the final door was what could only be described as an arena. It was a circular structure with tall spiked walls. They had entered the inside of the arena and the first thing they saw was a single female elf. She turned to face the group and smiled an evil grin. _

"_Did you think I would let you go that easily?" The elf's usual Dalish accent was completely gone instead she spoke with a dark deep voice, one that seemed to stem from a person's worst nightmare._

"_Don't use my sister's form coward." Lyla spat. "Face me in your true body."_

"_Why would I do that? You have already been abandoned by your sister once Lyla. Why would I let her abandon you again?" Merrill walked towards Lyla as she spoke and her accent returned to normal. "Oh sister. I am so sorry for what I did, it was not my fault. The clan has accepted you and your desires. Stay with me now and I promise we will be happy. I pro-"_

"_**ENOUGH**__." Lyla screamed. "They would never take me back. I know how I feel is wrong to them. Demon you can't fool me twice." She charged at her sister but the demon dissolved as Lyla got near and then reappeared floating above the group. _

"_My, my you do have some gall. Playtime is over now slave." The demonic voice returned to the elf and sounded amused as it spoke. "If you go back quietly I'll do better this time. I'll make you much happi-"The demons monologue was interrupted by an arrow piercing its chest. Merrill's form changed and the group was faced with the demon they had seen before falling asleep. Finally the demon was using its true form._

"_We will not be your slave's demon!" Leliana shouted. "You tried to keep us apart. You kept us from each other because you fear us don't you? Let us show you why that was smart." She fired another arrow at the floating demon as the mages in their part woke up and sent spells its way. The demon shape shifted again and landed in the form of a giant ogre. Lyla was confident she could defeat the creature now. It was not the first time she had fought one of these monsters and last time she did not have a powerful party behind her. Letting the rage overtake her she let out a barbaric howl and ran towards the ogre. Alistair raised his shield and charged at the ogre, knowing Lyla's probable plan would be to mount the creature and take its head as she did last time, he decided to distract the demon. He ran straight into its legs knocking it back stumbling. The ogre tried to recover but was distracted by a tiny elf stabbing her blades into its back and climbing up it. Lyla flipped up onto the demons head and brought her blades down but was surprised to find nothing below her. The demon had transformed as she was in the air._

_The demon had changed into a rage demon and spat fire at Lyla as she fell towards the floor, burning her terribly. Wynne stopped her attacks and concentrated all her mana onto healing the elf, doing all she could just to keep her alive, knowing that the injury would not be present in the real world. Alistair screamed in horror at seeing his fellow Warden burning alive and brought his sword forcibly down at the demon, slicing through its lava filled body. His sword melted away but did the damage he had hoped and the demon screamed in pain. Transforming back to its natural form it brought its claws down to Alistair knocking his shield out of his hands. Bringing its claws back to attack again Alistair silently prayed as he saw the claw come towards his face bringing what he imagined would be terrible pain. The claw flew towards him but was stopped by a wildcat's jaws. Morrigan had transformed and dived at the demon. Taking its arm in her jaws and ripping it free from the body. Leliana's arrow were finally true at the same time. Seeing the demons arm fly off she fired an arrow at the demons unprotected neck, piercing it cleanly and the demon fell to the floor dead._

"_Is it over?" Alistair asked as his body jolted. He was waking up._

* * *

_**Author's note.**_

_**God I apologise for this chapter. I think I must have rewritten it at least 5 times. It is nowhere near what I had originally planned but that was a terrible idea anyway (I originally planned for Leliana to be saved by the maker but then realised how terrible that is, real deus ex machina!) I hope this was more fun to read than it was to write!**_

_**You will have noticed that the fade is a hell of a lot different. Lyla was tortured in her dream because the sloth demon desires just that, sloth. For Lyla there was no way she would physically stop and be happy so the only way for the demon to get sloth from her would be emotional apathy, that is if she just gave up. I changed the puzzle sequences to just be a prison mainly due to the fact that I think the sloth would be taking the visions from his slave's sub-conscious and the group would only see this as a prison they were kept in. Whilst it is different I hope it wasn't too far from canon to be horrible. I honestly don't believe this is a good chapter but I couldn't face another rewrite so we're stuck with it! The next chapters will be better I promise.**_

_**The next chapter will mark the end of the mage tower but I don't know when I will update it, I don't want to keep promising scheduled days and then failing to meet them so I will instead say it won't be long! **_

_**Translations.**_

_**Alas'lin – Dirt blood.**_

_**Seth'lin – thin blood.**_

_**Nan – revenge.**_


	17. Chapter 17 - Circle

**Chapter 17 – Circle.**

She had died. Or at least she had felt herself die but Lyla woke up. It was an odd experience to say the least, she had felt herself fade away but then she woke up. Her body ached from the fireball that had taken her life in the Beyond but it was manageable or at least it would be dulled when she let her battle rage overtake her. She sat up and looked around, the body of the demon that had stolen their consciousness lay on the floor in the centre of the room, dead. Turning she saw her companions slowly rouse from their unnatural slumber, Leliana was the first to stand up and walked over to the demon, double checking it is definitely dead.

"Is everyone ok?" Lyla heard herself ask and when everyone answered her in the affirmative she motioned for them to gather around her. "Felas, your Templar training I assume it is somehow useful for combatting mages?"

"Yes Lyla. I have skills that can drain a mages power even kill them if I want." Alistair stood tall and proud as he spoke, he may not have liked being a Templar but he had worked hard to achieve the skills he learnt and was extremely proud of them.

"Good. I have a feeling that the seth'lin Templars downstairs won't be waiting much longer and I don't want Sten to face an army alone. I think it would be best if I went down to hold the line whilst you lead the group to defeat Uldred." She smiled warmly at Alistair trying to bolster his confidence, knowing he would not want to lead.

"What? Me lead? I've told you Lyla that never ends well." Alistair stuttered a reply and looked to the ground blushing.

"No it will. The group **will** do as you say." She put emphasis on the word 'will' daring anyone to disobey her. "I trust you enough to defeat this alas'lin mage and as the only one of us with Templar training you are the most qualified to kill him. I will head down with Leliana and defend the children downstairs."

"Ok but won't I need Leliana? I need as many people as possible." Alistair's voice was resigned, he knew better than to argue with Lyla.

"No I need her." She paused here and blushed again as she had done in the Beyond. "I mean I need her bow, I am very talented with my blades but even the 'Tempest' can't take out a whole Templar army so I need ranged support that the templars won't be able to stop and more importantly if I do lose my temper she is the only one of you brave enough to try and talk me down." Smiling at Leliana who seemed to have lost a bit of fear she held in the Beyond. "You take Revas with you. Morrigan I need you to transform into something to fight close quarters alongside Alistair. Wynne and Neria you will have to stay back, Wynne you are an amazing healer so you should concentrate on making sure Morrigan and Alistair are able to fight but Neria you just concentrate on keeping yourself and Wynne safe, leave the big man for Alistair. No doubt he can give you better orders when you get to see the situation but that is the best strategy you can use."

"Ok Lyla. Good luck and try not to kill everyone." Alistair poked his tongue out as he spoke then he turned and gestured for the group to follow him leaving Lyla and Leliana alone.

"Leli." Lyla started but then stopped. She was searching for the words she needed. To make the silence less awkward she decided to start the long walk towards the entrance and the mages. "I… I need to say sorry." Pausing again. It had always been extremely difficult for Lyla to apologise and mean it, she didn't want to upset her friend again so she knew she would have to take her time, no matter how awkward it would be.

"It's ok Lyla." Leliana smiled at the little elf, noting how upset she looked and realising that Lyla was beating herself up internally. "Honestly mon amie. It's ok, I know how you feel."

"No. you don't lethallan." Her voice quiet but full of emotion. "But I want you to. I've never really had many friends before. The only people in my clan that really cared about me were my mamae, Merrill and Tamlen. Merrill and Ashalle were family so they had to care about me and Tamlen, poor Tamlen, we were friends from childhood but he looked up to me more than seeing me as a friend. You are the first person to care about me because of who I am, not because of what I am to you." She looked up to Leliana to see her reaction and was comforted by the loving smile she received from the Orlesian. "I don't really understand why I reacted as I did in the Beyond. You saw what the demon Elvhen were doing to me. Do you know why?" Leliana shook her head so Lyla continued. "I was punished for…" her voice broke but she had to continue, if she stopped now she didn't know when she would ever get the confidence to speak this openly again. "I was punished for being your friend." She couldn't admit her feelings to Leliana, they still disturbed Lyla too much and she didn't want to burden her friend with that. "I have betrayed my people's code. I am no longer Dalish and if I ever want to re-join my clan I must accept my punishment."

"Oh Lyla. Mon amie. I am so sorry." Leliana put her arm around the elf both for herself and for Lyla. She was blaming herself for what was going through the elf's mind.

"Don't be lethallan. I chose to be your friend, it was my decision and I stand by it. I love my people Leli but they would never accept me now and my experience in the Beyond proved that. And honestly I am happy Leli, despite the fact we are fighting a war I really am." She stopped talking again and looked up at Leliana whose eyes had misted over. "Creators. Leliana you are rubbing off on me!" She chuckled lightly, trying to lighten the mood. "I am rambling just like you. I was trying to apologise wasn't I? Abelas Lethallan. I took out my anger and confusion at what I saw in the Beyond on you. I should never have done that. You are my only Lethallan. You are my Da'assan. Alistair isn't the only one who gets a nickname, though yours is much nicer than his." Leliana smiled and after blinking her eyes a few times they cleared.

"What does Da'assan mean? Oh and what does Felas mean mon amie?" Leliana had wanted to ask about Alistair's nickname for a long time and now seemed as good a time as any.

"Da'assan is 'little arrow'. Because you are my arrow and I am the blade. Hunting pairs use it in my clan, there is always the archer and the blade and you are my archer lethallan. I was known from a very young age as Da'mi, or little blade, because I am very good with my sword. Alistair is Felas which means 'slow'" She stopped to giggle and lit up when Leliana joined in. "I suppose I don't need to explain that one do I?" Leliana giggled sweetly again sending butterflies through Lyla's stomach.

"Thank you for telling me all this Lyla. I know it must have been hard for you." She squeezed the shoulders of the elf and then removed her arm. "We have some children to save no? We should probably get on with it."

**-FTDTD-**

Alistair was sore, they had left Lyla and Leliana and almost immediately ran into a menagerie of Drakes. For some reason the mages had been keeping them as pets to study and they had managed to get free. The group had been attacked by a pack of 4 of them, his armour was tough enough to withstand the bites from the little dragons but the fire they breathed did heat his armour something fierce. Morrigan had transformed into a bear and managed to take out one all by herself whilst Alistair was fumbling about with his one, he eventually killed it but not before another drake had been slain by his group. The final drake screeched loudly making him flinch but Revas was undeterred and leapt for its throat and closing his jaw around it. The dog didn't manage to kill it however, its scales were too tough for the dogs jaw to pierce completely but it was a sufficient distraction that Neria had managed to fire a frost spell and freeze it through. Morrigan jumped on it soon after and shattered its body.

"Maker's breath, why is there drakes here?" Alistair asked incredulously.

"We study them Alistair." Neria stated matter-of-factly. "We draw their blood so we may be able to study it and we also use them to perfect our fire magic." Pride had crept into her voice as she spoke making Alistair a little uneasy.

"Let me guess Loghain promised them freedom from the chantry as well?" Alistair sighed and looked over to Morrigan who had changed back to her human form. She was bending over a dead drake and using a knife she carried to carefully cut scales off of it. "What are you doing?"

"Drake scales are incredibly tough and our leader may have use of them to make armour, the singer will need better armour than the leather stuff she wears now." She looked up at the shocked expression on Alistair's face. "Oh would you rather I leave them? I'm sure the elf will be pissed off at you if we don't try to protect the one who warms her bedroll." She laughed whilst Alistair blushed.

"T-they aren't like that. They just share a tent because we haven't got any others!" he stuttered. "I don't think she would like humans anyway." Morrigan laughed again and shifted into her spider form. "Let's move on then I guess."

He led the group into the next room and was suddenly set upon by three drakes but sadly a rage demon also accompanied the dragons. Neria wasted no time in putting a frost spell on the group's weapons and even managed to give Morrigan and Revas frost power despite the fact their body was their weapon. Alistair roared and charged the first drake, learning from Lyla that you need to be the biggest loudest target to protect your team, and swatted its head with his shield. The drake roared in pain and went to bite Alistair who expertly dodged its jaws bringing the edge of his shield down hard on the monsters neck stunning it long enough for him to drive his sword through its eye.

Morrigan had jumped over the first drake and was wrestling the second drake with Revas who had decided that staying by her side was his best plan, the pair managed to take down the drake without trouble as it was susceptible to the poison that Morrigan's form could spit which weakened it considerably. Revas got a lucky bite in and managed to sever its tail from its body leaving an opening that Morrigan used to kill it.

Neria was concentrating on the rage demon as she was adept with her frost spells. The demon had ignored the party as soon as she fired the first winters grasp in its direction. Turning towards her it started to somewhat glide across the floor, leaving burn marks where it had once stood, as it approached her it was all she could do not to panic and run. She managed to calm herself fortunately and fired off a number of spells to slow it down and eventually she managed to freeze it in place before Wynne fired a stone fist at it and shattered it.

The last drake knew it was beaten now but still fought on, obviously hoping to take as many of the people who killed its pack as possible. It dived at Morrigan's body and managed to grab one of her legs in its jaw. Launching her across the room Morrigan lost consciousness when she hit the wall, reverting back to her human form.

Alistair screamed in horror. He didn't particularly like Morrigan but she was part of his group and he was to protect her. He charged shield first into the dragon, putting all of his weight behind it and managing to push it over onto its side, revealing its weaker underbelly. He slashed with expert precision at the drake managed to slice it open and killing it.

Wynne had seen the witch fly across the room and had left the fighting to the younger people in the party as she knew that she was the best healer there by far. She ran towards Morrigan's crumpled body and examined her quickly with her magic. Luckily the damage done was purely aesthetic and the woman would be up and ready to fight as soon as she regained consciousness. Still she restored the witch to full health and gently shook her to wake her.

Morrigan woke with a start. She hated being touched at the best of times and after being flung across a corridor was not the best of times, she glared at Wynne and stood up and almost fell right back down again as she lost her balance. Revas was luckily right there and she held onto the dog as though her life depended on it as she would not show weakness in front of the others. Before Alistair or anyone could ask her how she was she transformed into a bear and stormed off ahead determined to not fall again.

They came to a storeroom which Wynne said was just before the circle chambers. There were shelves stacked to the ceiling with strange vials and flasks the likes of which Alistair had never seen, he marvelled at the swirling liquids for a moment before his musings were interrupted.

"Please refrain from going into the stockroom." A monotone voice rang out from behind the shelves. "It is a mess and I haven't had a chance to tidy up." A mage walked out and stood before the group.

"What are you doing here?" Alistair was amazed that anyone would have stayed behind voluntarily so he assumed that the man would be working with Loghain.

"I was trying to tidy up the store room." His voice monotone again was putting Alistair on edge. "But there is little I can do."

"What is wrong with you?" Alistair asked, the mage was emotionless and it was extremely off-putting.

"Nothing is wrong with me." The man replied.

"Owain here is a tranquil, Alistair." Wynne spoke up, her tone was one of a teacher explaining a very simple subject. "He has been cut off from the fade. Surely you must have heard of them in your training?"

"Oh. I have never met one before." His face fell, he had heard of the tranquil and the barbaric way they are cut off from all emotions but he had always hoped it was just a myth, he tried to hide his emotions and turned back to face the mage. "Is there anything here we could use to defeat Uldred? I don't want him to try and bring demons to the mages in my group."

"There is the Litany of Adella. Should I get it for you?" The monotonous voice rang through the quiet room and Alistair nodded.

"That protects against domination. If there is blood magic at work here it will be very useful Alistair. Good thinking asking him for it." The old mages voice rang with praise as she looked upon the Warden.

Owain soon returned and passed a scroll to Alistair who immediately gave it to Wynne. "Wynne I have no idea what this is, you seem to. If it is needed I trust you to use your judgement and protect us." Alistair smiled at the mage and turned to leave. "Come we have wasted too much time already and I fear that Lyla won't exactly be treating the Templars nicely, we should hurry."

They left the stores and came to a rectangular room with stairs going up in the corner it would have been a perfectly normal tower room if not for what was next to the stairs. A purple hued magical prison was holding a Templar captive here and when he noticed them approaching his tortured mind assumed they were demons and he tried to dispel them with his words. No amount of kind words from Wynne would snap him out of his delusions and it wasn't until he demanded they be gone and closed and opened his eyes that he realised they were real.

"Templar we are real, I promise you." Alistair grinned at the man trying to put him at ease. "We are here to save the circle. I am a Grey Warden."

"The voices… The images… So real." The templars voice was faint as if recalling a dream. "I am sorry for doubting you. The illusions have been so real." His eyes finally focused on Alistair. "How did you get here? How did you survive?"

"Well I dance a little jig for the demons and they let me pass." He grinned but when the caged man didn't react to his joke he realised it probably wasn't the best time. "Sorry. We fought our way through the demons and now its Uldred's turn to die. I will save these mages my friend."

"Save them?!" The Templar growled. "They deserve to die. Look at what they did to me. They deserve to be killed for this, Uldred most of all." Venom dripped from his voice as he spoke and Alistair had to stop himself from taking a step back from the man.

"You would kill them all for revenge?" Alistair snapped back. "That is ridiculous. If there is any chance that any innocent mage can be saved then I will take it Templar." He was beginning to see how Lyla could think them all evil if this is the side of men that she had seen.

"You can't save them. You don't know what they've become!" He roared in his cage. "They've been surrounded by blood mages whose wicked fingers snake into your mind and corrupt your thoughts. They have turned all of my friends into monsters or killed them. They are not innocent."

"I understand your hatred but that is just because you are burdened with the thought of revenge. You must realise that some will have resisted and some can be saved." Alistair tried to calm his voice, it would do him no good to lose his temper with this man.

"Are you really saving anyone by taking that risk?" he demanded. "To ensure this is all over. To ensure no more abominations or blood mages. They must all be killed."

"I am sorry but I would rather spare a blood mage than kill an innocent one." Alistair replied and Wynne and Neria gave their thanks.

"I am in no position to stop you **Warden**." He used Alistair's title as an insult. "You will do what you think is right regardless of whether it is."

Alistair saw no point in continuing the conversation any longer so he left the Templar in his cage. Climbing the steps he told the group to get into the positions recommended by Lyla and stormed the room.

The stench of long dead bodies hit Alistair like a stone wall as he entered. He had to stop and regain control of his body to prevent himself from losing his lunch. To the edges of the circular room he saw a group of mages who had been beaten, bound and gagged. Looking ahead he saw a horrific display. A mage was being tortured with lightening, it was shooting through all points of the man's body and his screams would remain with Alistair for the rest of his days. The mage was surrounded by abominations who were silently cheering the display on. In front of the abominations was a lone mage, the only one there who was not bound or being tortured. Uldred. He was talking to the mage and demanding that he accept a gift from him which the mage reluctantly did, apparently the torture was too much for him to bear. Uldred muttered an incantation and the tortured mage's body exploded outward as he became an abomination. Neria screamed at the sight which brought Uldred's attention to them.

"Ah look what we have here." He calmly walked towards them and turned his attention to Neria. "Irving's star pupil. Uldred didn't see your appeal then and I certainly don't now."

"I think I'll just kill you if that's alright with you. I can't really be bothered with this conversation." Alistair interrupted what was no doubt going to be a monologue from the demon and he tried to sound jovial but he feared that all he sounded was childish.

"Fight if you must. It will only make my victory sweeter." Uldred collapsed to the floor or more accurately his body did, leaving behind a growing monster. As the body fell apart from it a beast rose from the corpse, it quickly grew until it was at least twice Alistair's height, bigger than the ogre he had faced with Lyla by far. Its body was corrupted as the abominations were with giant claws in place of hands. Its elbows shot out behind his arms in spikes as did his knees. How were they meant to defeat such a horrifying creature?

Morrigan was the first to react, she transformed back into her human form and cast a lightning storm above the abominations that had accompanied Uldred. Her spell managed to kill every last one of them but missed Uldred himself however the spell was extremely draining and Morrigan felt herself falling with the effort. Collapsing on the floor she did not expect to wake as her vision blackened and she lost consciousness.

Alistair charged during the confusion created by Morrigan's spell. Neria's frost magic on his sword brought him the confidence he needed to defeat the demon that had taken over Uldred. He drove his sword through the demons knee which was directly at his chest height. He stabbed his sword until he felt it hit bone and then he twisted it and brought it out to do the same again. Uldred had screamed with pain but reacted quickly swatting Alistair out of his way as the demon fell to one knee.

Neria had recovered from her initial horror and began casting a grease spell over the giant demon that was Uldred. Once she had covered it and saw Alistair fly out of the way she fired her most powerful fireball at it. The grease that had covered it now caught on fire bolstering her fireball spell and bringing the demon down to the floor. She let herself cheer but quickly swallowed it as she saw the demon get back up and crawling towards her. She panicked and fired a winter's grasp spell at it but saw all it did was put out the fire.

Wynne saw her fellow mage panic and fired a stonefist at the crawling behemoth. It hit the creature in the back of its head knocking it back to the ground and she took the opportunity to steel herself and prepare a powerful spell. She had practiced a petrify spell many times but never used one on a target this big, it would take all of her energy to entrap the monster and she hoped that Neria and Revas would be powerful enough to shatter it once she had done the spell. She chanted the spell and let it loose at the creature and as she fell to her knees in exhaustion she was glad to see the spell was successful and the demon was turned to stone.

Neria wasted no time when she saw what Wynne had done. She conjured her most powerful stonefist spell and used the remainder of her mana to fire it at the demon and fortune shone upon her as it shattered the demon finally killing it.

_**Author's note**_

_**I realised recently that I have been using the masculine version of 'mon ami' instead of 'mon amie' to address Lyla, so you may have noticed I have used the feminine word in this chapter.**_

_**Translations**_

_**Da'assan – Little arrow**_

_**Da'mi – little blade**_


	18. Chapter 18 - Circle Saved

_**Author's note.**_

_**Sorry for not having a chapter out last week, real life got in the way! Enjoy this chapter though.**_

Chapter 18 – Circle Saved.

Sten was used to preparing for a battle and this was no different. Yes the enemy had yet to even make an attempt at an attack but he would not be caught unawares. Not again. As soon as the little elf that commanded him had left him with the children he got to work. First he barred the doors leading in from where the templars had collected, making sure no one could break through without an army. Then he demanded the few mages he had there to freeze the doors shut to make it even harder for them to get in.

He was not happy about having to babysit these mages. Saarebas his people called them. Dangerous thing. Magic was dangerous and these bas saarebas needed to be in chains to protect everyone but it was not his place to do so, he was a scout not an arvaarad, a mage watcher. He was nothing now to his people, nothing to himself, he had lost his soul and without it he was never going to return to the homeland.

He sat by the barred doorway and meditated, it was not the usual Qunari way but he had seen the elf girl do it a lot and it seemed to calm her and right now he needed all the help he could get to keep from panicking and disgracing himself again.

He didn't know how long he had sat there lost in his own mind but from the looks of the children and their surroundings it had been at least half a day if not more. A voice had interrupted his meditation and he searched for its owner.

"Sten." The little elf had appeared beside him. "Anything happen whilst I was away?" she spoke as if she had just been gone for a minute and not gone off to fight off some unknown evil.

"No." was all Sten said. He had never been one for unneeded words and the elf seemed to appreciate that.

"Good. Get some rest, if I'm right the templars won't be waiting much longer, I need you ready for battle." She bowed her head to Sten and walked off towards the children.

Lyla had noted the barricade blocking the door when she had walked in and trusting Sten to have built it strong enough she didn't feel the need inspect it, instead she wanted to ensure the children were ok. They shouldn't have had to be put in this situation and as much as Lyla dislike humans these children were just as oppressed as her people even if they were too young or naïve to realise it.

"Da'len." She knelt down in front of the elven child she spoke to when she first arrived. "Have you been looking after my friend?" she motioned to Sten. He nodded shyly at her but didn't speak so she continued. "Well done lethallin. I'm very proud of you." She smiled warmly at the child.

"I'm scared." He whispered and looked down at the ground.

"Don't be scared da'len, you have me protecting you." Lyla grabbed the boys chin and gently moved his face up to meet her own. "The templars and the demons are all scared of me you know. I am really a big scary lady I just don't look it to you." Letting go of the boys head she stood up, "Do you want to hear a story about me scaring the big nasty templars?" he nodded excitedly and gathered his friends round them. "Wait a second. I can't tell it! Let me get my friend she is a minstrel, it is her job to tell stories." Lyla left the group of expecting children and went to get Leliana.

"Leli, I have an extremely important job for you." Lyla said not caring that she had interrupted a conversation between Leliana and a mage. "You need to tell the children a story of how I scare the templars. They are all terrified and I maybe told them that I scare the templars and monsters away and now they want a story."

"A story?" Leliana scrunched up her face confused. "But I don't know any stories about you Lyla."

"You're a minstrel lethallan. Aren't you meant to just make up stories?" she poked her tongue out at her human friend knowing it would tease her.

"That's… That's not how it works!" She tried to be annoyed at the elf but seeing her amused face made it very difficult. "Honestly though Lyla what stories could I tell them? They would be much too violent for such young ones." Lyla's face dropped. "How about music instead? We both know Dalish songs we could play one for them?"

"Creators. Yes!" her face returned to the amused expression and her eyes glowed with excitement. "But we need instruments, I can play a bit of a tune on my bow but if we could find a lute instead then it would be a lot better." Grabbing her human friend by the arm she dragged her off towards the children. "Let's ask if they know of any instruments nearby."

The children had let them know of a storeroom not too far off so Lyla wasted no time on rushing to it. Practically bouncing with excitement as she explored the shelves and cupboards looking for any sort of instrument to play. Leliana was amazed at how different she could act, one moment she was a cold calculated angry little killer the next nothing more than a big kid, it was humbling really. To think that Lyla could have gone through such trauma and come out of it practically the same person gave her hope that she could move past her own experiences, making a note to tell Lyla her story when they left the tower she moved towards a locked door at the end of the stores.

"What does that say Leli?" Lyla asked pointed at a sign above the door.

"Templar stores, can't you read it?" Leliana turned towards her friend as she spoke.

"n-no." Lyla was shocked and looked to Leliana with curiosity in her voice. "Hunters are not taught to read. As much as it would help me now it was of no importance growing up."

"Would you like me to teach you when we get a chance Mon amie?" she put her hand on the elf's forearm for support.

"Yes please." She raised her head to look at the Orlesian and smiled warmly. "Ma serannas lethallan. Could you open the door please? I'm sure the Templars won't mind if we have a look."

Leliana easily picked the lock and opened the door, inside was a completely different set of stores than the room they had come from. Instead of the magical equipment and potion ingredients in here there was what could only be described as trophies. On the far wall was a set of what looked to be antlers but these were unlike any that Leliana had ever seen, unlike deer antlers these twisted around and had intricate carvings in. Below then in a weapons rack on the floor was a lone war axe that looked to be of Dalish creation.

"Seth'lin shemlen!" Lyla growled. The anger in her voice startled Leliana who jumped and moved back away from the elf. "I'll kill them all for this. They killed a halla. Ghilan'nain I will avenge them." She stepped forward and took the antlers off the wall, then bent down to pick up the axe. "A dal'thanu. They are only given to the most experienced of warriors. Who did the shemlen murder for this?" Kneeling to the floor Lyla sang softly.

"Swiftly do stars burn a path across the sky. Hast'ning to place one last kiss upon your eye. Tenderly land enfolds you in slumber softening the rolling thunder. Dagger now sheathed. Bow no longer tense. During this, your last hour, only silence." She stood up and spoke softly to the axe in her hand. "I do not know who you were lethallin but I will avenge you, this I promise."

"Lyla." Reaching out and placing a hand softly on the elf shoulder Leliana spoke. "That was beautiful."

"Ma serannas lethallan." Lyla struggled to keep her voice low. "It is one of the funeral songs we sing. Mainly used when there is no body to bury. I felt it was fitting here. There is a lute in the corner there Leliana, you go sing to the children I will stay here a while longer."

Rage. Disgust. Vengeance. That was all Lyla could feel in this small room. The walls surrounding her covered in trophies taken from her people, stolen from the murdered Elvhen. She would have blood for what had happened here but she knew she needed to be patient. To attack the templars unprovoked would destroy all that she had fought for in the tower. She needed those mages for her army and if they saw her enact her fury they would never join her despite any pieces of paper she held. She looked around the room one last time, taking the Halla horns with her she muttered a goodbye and a promise of revenge before destroying all the items in the room, if her people couldn't have them she would die herself before leaving them here for shemlen.

She followed her ears to Leliana and the group of mages she was protecting, following the voice of her orlesian companion. She had decided to forgo her dagger and instead carried the dal'thanu axe in her left hand, she had kept the Dar'Misaan though, her party called it a sword but to her it was much more than that, it was the sole reminder of the home she had left behind.

Pausing a moment to listen to Leliana's song she allowed a smile to cross her face, it brightened her sullen mood somewhat and she was glad for it, she did not want to lose her temper with the children nearby, there was no need to scare them. She walked towards Leliana intending to join in with the song but stopped when she picked up the sound of armoured boots approaching but unfortunately not from where she had left her friends. These boots belonged to Templar knights.

Sten jumped up and walked towards his barricade. He was confident it would hold against all but an army especially with the magic reinforcing it but he wanted to be close just in case. He could hear the Templars smashing into it in an attempt to break it down and he couldn't help but let out an uncharacteristic laugh.

Arriving next to Sten Lyla paced around the barricade listening intently. Her ears were much more sensitive to sound than that of her companions and she could hear the conversation that was taking place outside the room.

"Break this bloody door down recruit!" She heard someone scream. "By the Maker I will cleanse this circle if it kills you all."

"Yes sir." More smashing sounds erupted on the door and Lyla smiled inwardly.

"You won't get in shem." She growled through the door, waiting for a break in the banging so she could be heard. "I will not let you kill these children all for some misguided attempt at saving people."

"Tempest?!" She recognised Greagoir's voice through the door. "I have given you more than enough time to save these malificar, the circle is lost. I must come in and destroy what's left of it to save us all."

"Seth'lin Shem. If you somehow break down these doors then you better have an army with you." Her voice hot with fury. "I have seen your trophy room. I just need an excuse to start killing you. If you come in here and attack these da'len you will not survive. You can't possibly be this stupid can you?" She laughed loudly so the Templars through the door could hear her. "I have a Qunari warrior, a Mabari warhound and a Templar of my own. I also have a mage whose power you can't even detect. Do you even realise how close she was to you and you didn't even know she was there idiot. I have a chantry sister her who right now is praying for your soul. She knows my fury and I will take it out on you if you even dream of coming in here without my permission shemlen." She brought her fist down on the door to prove her point. "I am the Tempest. You have murdered my people and brought their goods here. I have done more to your people than your stories tell alas'len."

"I have an army here knife ear. Do you think you can beat me?" Greagoir laughed back at her trying to sound menacing but to Lyla all she heard was an empty threat.

"Yes." Roaring over the banging that had resumed. "You idiots will tire yourself out breaking down my barricade. Then I will kill the first lot to walk in, I may even let my team join in if I am feeling generous. You may eventually kill me shemlen but I will kill a lot of you, is that worth the risk?"

"You defend malificar bitch. I am ordered to cleanse the circle. I will kill you if you step in my way. Break down this door!"

"Ar tu na'lin emma mi. Ma halam." Lyla screamed through the door, barely keeping a hold on her blood rage.

Taking a deep breath she turned away from the door to issue orders and calm down. "Sten you and I will stay close to the door, we have yet to fight together so I hope you are as good as I imagine." She bowed her head to the giant Qunari and walked towards Leliana and the children who were now whimpering behind her. "Leliana I will need your bow if this comes to a fight find a position now lethallan." She turned her head towards the female mage standing near the children. "Abelas I do not know your name, take the da'len and find somewhere safe to hide, do not come out until you hear my voice. Take the other mage with you he will be more suited to help you than me."

Lyla needed to cool down, she knew that she was near breaking point and it was doing her no good. Anger was useful on the battlefield, it allowed her to ignore any pain until she was safe, and rage was a powerful anaesthetic. But right now she needed to be calm. Anger causes bad decisions and bad decisions cause death, Lyla had too much to lose to die right now. She paced back and forth across the barred door, inspecting it for any signs of it breaking down. Eventually she gave this up and went to sit down and meditate to relax a little.

"Lyla?" The accent of Leliana was a welcome break to Lyla's thoughts. "What are you doing?"

"Meditating lethallan."

"No. I mean what are you doing deciding to make us fight an army?" Leliana's voice was unusually calm, she normally had a clear emotion on her tongue when she spoke, and it was almost intimidating to hear such calmness. "You are too important to throw your life away Mon amie. You and Alistair are possibly the two most important people in all of Ferelden right now. We both know that a blight is here and we need the Grey Wardens to fight it."

"What would you have me do Leliana?" She rose to stand opposite the Orlesian. "Abandon those da'len? Perhaps join in with the murder of them?" Her temper was rising again, she had thought that Leliana would be the last person to object to her protecting innocent lives.

"No of course not. I just think that you should think before you act. You let anger cloud your judgement just now didn't you?" Leliana knew she was right but she still couldn't meet Lyla's gaze, she knew that the elf would not hurt her but that didn't mean she wasn't intimidating. "You didn't have to threaten the entire Templar army."

"Yes I did. You know as well as I what the Templars are capable of. They are barbaric monsters Leli. They deserve to die for what they have done to me, to my people and for what they plan to do to these da'len." Lyla spat.

"You are a Grey Warden Lyla. Your order is supposed to be above politics, supposed to not make judgements, supposed to accept all for the fight against the Archdemon. Not let petty arguments cloud your judgement!"

"**PETTY?!**" Lyla screamed walked towards Leliana, "You call killing my people petty?! You call what they did to me and tried to do to my sister petty?!" Stopping just short of the woman Lyla seemed to tower over her despite being much shorter.

"No not that." Leliana's voice almost a whisper. "Letting the past make decisions for you is petty. You have said to me you are no longer Dalish but a Warden, well prove it and act like one. The only way this will end without bloodshed is if you find a way to delay the Templars without an all-out fight." She looked down to the elf's eyes stopping herself from backing away when she saw the fire in them. "You are a good friend to me Lyla but you are just as prejudiced as I was. You see yourself as so much better than these humans and it is allowing you to make stupid decisions."

"Of course I see myself better than them. I have only ever been treated like scum by these disgusting monsters." She growled.

"I understand, I have seen the barbarity and cruelty of man just as much as you Lyla but not all men are like that. Not all Templars are either. You have just been unfortunate enough to only meet the bad ones. Do the good men deserve to die for the evil ones crimes?" Leliana was struggling to keep the calmness in her voice but she knew if she let any emotion in she would not be able to finish. "That is what you are doing Lyla. You are killing good men because you are blinded by the deeds of others."

Lyla stepped back and threw her dagger towards the door, roaring in anger and letting a stream of elven curse words that would make even the most battle-hardened warrior blush. "Creators strike me. You are right Leliana. I hate it but you are right." Turning back to the bard she looked up again but this time she had no anger only regret. "I am killing us all here aren't I?"

"Not if you fix this Mon amie." She put her hand on the elf's forearm. "I have an idea that you may like actually. If you challenge the Commander to a duel his honour would demand he accept."

"As much as I want to fight him da'assan how will that help?"

"Tell him if he wins we will help him clear the circle of malificar but if we win then he has to wait until you say the circle is lost before he does. I am confident in your ability lethallan I think this could work." Leliana pleaded.

"Ma nuvenin lethallan. If they get through the barricade I will challenge him." Bowing her head slightly to the taller human Lyla conceded defeat. "I am not as proud as my people, I know when I am wrong and when to accept help. Ma serannas Leli."

**-FTDTD-**

Alistair woke and felt his body aflame with pain. He was slumped against the side of the room where he had landed. Opening his eyes he saw Wynne concentrating her healing on a mage he did not recognise. With great effort he managed to stand only to be nearly knocked down again by Revas who had noticed his movement and ran over to greet him. Neria had recovered from the battle by now and walked over to inspect his wounds.

"How are you feeling Ser Warden?" She inquired.

"Surprisingly like I've been thrown across the room." He smiled. "I wonder why that is?"

"Hmm I have no idea." She laughed at his sarcasm. "Come sit down let me have a look at you, I am not a great healer like Wynne but I know enough to help you."

He sat down beside Revas who lay down with his head in Alistair's lap. Neria held her hands towards him with her palms facing him and blue sparks flew from her hand and engulfed Alistair. Her magic was searching his body for injuries and after a short moment it found them, the sparks instantly converged on the cuts and bruises that existed below the armour and finally flowed through him to heal his internal injuries. Alistair gave a sigh of relief as the last dull ache left his body, he felt well enough to take on an army if he needed.

"Thank you Neria. I can't wait to see how good Wynne is at healing though, you are fantastic at it my friend, I can't imagine how talented she is if she is better than you." He smiled warmly at the young elf and stood up. "We have no time to waste, if I know Lyla at all then she is going to be antagonising the Templars something awful, we need to get down there as quick as we came to diffuse any hostility."

He made his way towards the group of mages that Wynne was seeing to where he was introduced to the First Enchanter himself, Irving. He was relatively uninjured and was helping Wynne heal the more wounded victims of Uldred. Alistair greeted him and explained the situation with the Templars sending for the rite of Annulment.

Irving was shocked, he had been friends with Greagoir for an extremely long time and had once hoped that he would never have gone to such extreme methods and immediately set off for the base of the tower with Alistair in tow, they needed to stop the Templars before anything happened.

**-FTDTD-**

They were close now to the entrance hall and Alistair was starting to gain confidence that the circle was safe and that they would get the reinforcements they needed for the blight when he heard it. The tell-tale sounds of steel-upon-steel, of sword fighting. Fearing the worst he stepped in front of the First Enchanter and drew his sword and shield before charging into the room with a scream.

It was not quite what he expected.

He had expected a full on battle, lots of dead bodies and perhaps even one of his friend hurt or worse but instead he saw all the Templars crowding round in a circle watching something intently and whilst he could still hear the sounds of fighting he could also hear Leliana singing, a song of great combat and courage.

Breaking through the circle of men he saw what they were spectating and his mouth dropped.

Lyla had the Knight-Commander on the floor with an axe at his throat and her sword at his chest and had bent down so her head was next to his. Alistair could see her lips move but couldn't hear what was being said.

"Lyla." Leliana's voice rang through the group. "You have beaten him. Let him up Mon amie." All she got in return was a feral growl from Lyla who had brought her axe up with deadly intent.

"Lyla stop!" Alistair shouted as he ran towards her and grabbed her off the fallen man. "I don't know what is going on here but you can't kill an unarmed man. I've got the First Enchanter, the circle is saved. We have won, don't sully that by murdering the Commander."

Another growl but Lyla stopped thrashing in his arms so he let her down. She turned to look at him with fury in her eyes and muttered an elvish curse before growling towards the Templars again. She picked up her weapons and walked away from the group to calm herself.

"Who was that?" Irving asked over Alistair's shoulder.

"That, First Enchanter is our leader. For all intents and purposes she is the Warden-Commander of Ferelden. I don't know what has gone here Ser Templar but I know that whilst Lyla has a bad temper she needs a reason to explode like this. What happened?" Alistair asked whilst helping Greagoir from the floor.

Leliana had approached now and swiftly explained what they had found in the Templar storeroom and Lyla's reaction. She told them how she had managed to calm Lyla down enough to see reason not to attack the whole Templar army they had assumed where attacking. Leliana was shaking with anger as she spoke of how Lyla had a troubled past with the Templars, she didn't go into any details as she wanted to keep her friends privacy but she imagined that the group already knew what had happened to her.

"Maker's breath. I think it's best if we leave quickly." Alistair sighed. "Leliana would you mind going and collecting our companions, they should be nearly down now." She nodded and walked towards the stairs. "First Enchanter we have documents requiring your aid in the blight. Will you honour them?"

"After you saved us Ser Warden the least we could do is help you against the darkspawn. I would hate to survive this only to be overcome by the darkspawn." Irving bowed his head slightly in respect.

"Thank you. I will go inform my Commander. If you could arrange an emissary to accompany us I would be grateful, we will be traveling to Redcliffe castle soon as I believe we will have our centre of operations there if the Arl allows." He bowed as he left the older men to talk and walked over to Lyla.

"Will they help?" She had lost some of the fury from her voice but what was left was still enough to make Alistair wary.

"Yes, I have also told them we will be leaving very soon. Are you ok Lyla?"

"No. These shemlen have done untold horrors to my people and yet just get away with it Felas. If Leliana hadn't stopped me there I would have taken revenge for them and damned all of your efforts." She sighed and looked towards the floor. "It's getting harder to calm myself down here, the sooner we go the better."

She listened to Alistair explain what happened in the fight against Uldred and was amazed at how well everyone had fought considering what monsters they faced. She couldn't believe that there were dragons in the tower and that she had missed out in fighting them, it had always been a dream of hers that one day she would hunt a great dragon and it seems that the nearest she would have gotten would have been today in the tower.

After talking more about the battles Leliana finally returned with the group and approached them.

"Wynne and Neria both want to join us mon amie." She gestured for the pair of mages to join her talking to Lyla. "Will you let them?"

"Of course. We need a healer and from what I've seen and heard Wynne is more than capable." Lyla smiled up at the elder mage. "Neria." She turned to address the elf. "I was going to ask you to come anyway. You said you are Dalish, I am not letting any Elvhen be kept locked up here, I am honoured that you wish to join our cause. I will speak with the first enchanter and tell him." She turned and left, walking towards Irving.

"Andaran atish'an First Enchanter. I have come to request that Wynne and Neria come along with us. They have both expressed a wish to join me against the blight personally and I could do with all the help I can get." She had calmed down enough now to know that she needed to be polite to the Grey Wardens allies.

"Of course, Wynne will be incredibly useful for you, she is one of our foremost experts on creation magic and it will be an extremely good learning experience for young Neria." He smiled warmly at Lyla but it was cut off quickly by Greagoir who had overheard.

"Absolutely not." He said as he approached. "Wynne is old enough to be allowed out the circle by herself but Neria. Her best friend was a blood mage. She is much too young to be able to resist the call of blood, I will not let her leave the circle." He finished with a stern look at Lyla.

"I think you misunderstand me shem." Lyla growled. "I was merely requesting the First Enchanters permission not yours. If you do not give it I will simply take her." She took a step towards the taller man and lowered her voice. "You forget what power the Wardens have. I will invoke the Right of Conscription. I would have liked her to stay as a mage but if I must make her a Warden to join me so be it. You can decide her fate shemlen." She spat the last sentence as if the venom from it would burn her tongue.

"Fine." Greagoir spat back. "Take her but when she returns we will be examining her fully."

"Ma serannas." The sarcasm oozed through her voice. "We will take our leave from the tower now."

_**Author's note.**_

_**Mage tower over! Next time Lyla and her group travel again. I gotta admit I really like this chapter, its probably not to everyone's tastes, especially the ending, but I love it! **_


	19. Chapter 19 - Mythal Protect her

Chapter 19 – Mythal Protect her.

By the time they left the tower the sun was already setting. After the ordeal they had faced inside that horrible place Lyla had never felt so happy to see grass, she immediately took off her boots to walk barefoot and let the grass rub against her feet. Not caring about the strange looks she was getting from the surrounding mages, Templars and her party she let out a contented sigh and felt as if the burdens of the day had been lifted from her back. Finally relaxed she turned to the group and informed them they will be staying in the tavern again tonight and started walking to the boat that would carry them across the lake.

When they landed and her group left for the tavern Lyla elected to stay behind for a moment, she had been trapped inside all day and it had been the longest she had been without the open air in her life, she was not about to give it up just yet. Lying back on the shore she closed her eyes and thought about her old life and her new one, the many changes that had been forced upon her and the many choices she would have to make in the future. She had been called the Warden-Commander by Alistair and by Enchanter Irving, it was terrifying to her to imagine how much this war would depend on her and her decisions.

She finally opened her eyes and looked up to the now night sky, she gasped when she saw the moon. It was full. There was no way she could sleep in the tavern tonight. It was to be a night of worship, a night of sacrifice. All for Mythal, protector of the Elvhen and creator of the moon.

She made her way to the tavern to explain to her group where she would be that night when it occurred to her than whilst no non-Elvhen person may see the rituals she would do tonight, Neria had claimed to be a true Elvhen, if she was then she deserved to join.

"Neria, lethallan." She spoke softly as she approached the group. "May I have a word in private?" Neria barely had chance to reply before being dragged to the corner of the inn. "You said you were Elvhen? Which clan were you from?"

"I was of the Ralaferin clan." Neria bowed her head to the smaller elf. "Which clan are you?"

"Sabrae" Lyla smiled up at her friend. "Do you understand what tonight is? There is a full moon lethallan. If you are true Elvhen you must come and sacrifice to Mythal with me."

"I don't know what to do though Lyla. I was taken from my clan at a very young age, I was never taught any of the rituals that you have." Neria had to swallow a cry for the history and culture she had lost. She had managed to live with it by now but seeing Lyla, a Dalish elf who knew what it was to be free brought it all flooding back. "Please, teach me Lyla, I must know of our practices." She begged.

"Ma nuvenin lethallan." Lyla placed a hand on her fellow elf's arm. "I will teach you this ritual though you must forgo the comfort of a bed tonight. Please go find Morrigan and get two flasks from her then meet me at the entrance. Bring only what clothes you are wearing now and your staff." Lyla bowed her head at Neria and left to talk to Leliana.

"Lyla. Is everything ok mon amie?" Leliana was worried, Lyla had been acting strangely, well strangely for her, ever since they had discovered what the templars had taken from her people. She had hoped that the two were friends now and that Lyla would share any burdens she had with her but so far not a word.

"Everything is fine lethallan. Neria and I will not be staying her tonight. It is a full moon and we must pray. We will be in the woods just off the road." Lyla spoke softly. "Before you ask it is important that you do not come with us Leli. You are a friend but you are still a shemlen, it is forbidden for you to see our ways. I hope you can manage sleeping without me near tonight though? Perhaps I should leave Revas to keep you company? Though perhaps he wouldn't be as much fun to wake up next to." Lyla blushed as she spoke, why did she say that?

"I'm sure I can manage without!" Leliana playfully slapped her friends arm. "Will you be ok with Neria? Try not to miss me too much Lyla." She smiled as she hugged her friend.

**-FTDTD-**

The two elves and the mabari arrived at the wooded area just after sundown. Lyla immediately set out to find a small clearing where they could set up a bonfire and instructed Neria to find certain herbs that were required.

Neria was in awe of the trees. She had been locked in that tower and not allowed out since she had been captured by the Templars all those years ago. She was 6 years old when her clan was attacked, she didn't know what was happening at the time only that her family had been killed and the templars knew she had magic. For many years she blamed herself for what had happened to her clan, believing that if she wasn't magical then maybe they wouldn't have been attacked. Since then she had not been allowed outside of the tower at all. She had forgotten the smells, the sights and the sounds of the forest. As she explored the woods looking for the items she needed she couldn't help but stop and stare at some of the trees wondering how old they must be, how much history lay within this little area. She brought her hand up to feel the bark of one tree, she was delighted to feel the rough bark scratch the palm of her tree, for the first time in years she felt like a free elf again.

Lyla had managed to catch and kill a pair of rabbits by the time Neria arrived back at their makeshift camp. She was in the process of bleeding them out. She had hung the rabbits by their feet above the flasks that she had borrowed from Morrigan, after they were hung she chopped off the heads of the animals in one swift slice of her axe, letting the blood fall into the flasks below. Looking up to greet her friend she left the rabbits to bleed and walked over to her. "Neria could you please set up a small bonfire in the centre of camp?" She smiled and pointed to where she needed the fire setting. "Once we have the fire lit it is time for the ceremony. I hope you are ready lethallan."

Neria gathered any firewood she could find whilst stealing glances at Lyla. It fascinated her to see the elf skinning and cutting up the rabbits, she had never seen anything like this, once she had thought herself an adult who knew what the world was like but now after just a few short hours outside of the place she had known as home for so long she realised she had not yet lived. She piled the wood in the centre of the camp and cast a small fireball to light it.

"Ma serannas Lethallan." Lyla called to her. "It is time to begin." Putting two fingers in the flask in front of her she dipped them in the blood and brushed it against her own face, tracing her own face tattoos and adding other designs. She then motioned for Neria to come closer and dipped her fingers in the blood again. "Lethallan, usually you would have vallaslin for me to trace along now but as you don't I hope you don't mind me making a design up for you as I go." She smiled and started to paint Neria's face with the blood, making a simple but beautiful design which looped around the eyes and joined up on her forehead. "This is a design of Dirthamen, the keeper of secrets. Do you remember the stories of our gods' lethallan?" she spoke as she worked.

"Not really Lyla, would you tell me of Dirthamen?" Neria was suddenly very aware of how much history she had lost, how different her life should have been.

"He is the brother of Falon'Din." She finished her art on the mages face and bent down to pick up the flask of blood. "He and his brother are the eldest of Elgar'nan and Mythal's children. They were twins and inseparable from birth." She paused to take a mouthful of the blood, grimacing at its metallic taste then handed it to Neria. "Take a mouthful of this Neria. The first time they separated they were already adults. Falon'Din found an old and sickly deer that was near death and brought it across to the beyond and Dirthamen could not follow his brother." Neria coughed as she swallowed the blood and handed it back to Lyla. "Dirthamen wept for days at the loss of his twin and wandered aimlessly through the great forest. Eventually he came across two ravens. 'You are lost and soon you will fade' one spoke to him, this raven was Fear. 'Your brother has abandoned you, he no longer loves you.' The raven named Deceit said." Lyla took another mouthful of blood but instead of drinking it she let the blood flow from her lips, drenching her face and armour. "'I am not lost. Falon'Din has not abandoned me.' Replied Dirthamen and he commanded the ravens to take him to his twin. They had been defeated and had to take him to his brother." Lyla smiled through the blood and started walking towards the bonfire motioning for Neria to join her. "His story is similar to yours isn't it? You were separated from your culture and now I can help you return lethallan."

"That is a wonderful tale Lyla. I wish I could remember more of our gods." Neria knelt down next to Lyla, they were both facing the fire and Neria was enjoying the heat on her face. "What do we do next?"

"We haven't begun yet Lethallan. Usually there would be a group of hunters, all of us covered in the blood of our sacrifices dancing and singing around the fire, there would be music made all night and one by one the group would succumb to sleep except the keeper who would stay awake to ensure the moon sets and the sun rises, to ensure Fen'harel does not catch our scent." Lyla rose from her knees and picked up her bow, softly strumming the string to produce one of the loveliest sounds Neria had ever heard. "We have no instruments here lethallan, this will have to do. If you sit there you can listen to me sing about Mythal and Elgar'nan, however it is usual for any of us with the gift of magic to make the fire dance, don't worry if you can't though lethallan."

Lyla sat on a nearby rock and in time with the strumming of her bow she spoke.

"A long time ago there was only the land and the sun. The sun was curious about the land so he bowed his head down to meet the land. In the place where they touched Elgar'nan was born. They loved their child for he was beautiful and clever. The land made birds and beasts as a gift to Elgar'nan and all manner of beautiful green things. Elgar'nan loved his mother's gifts and praised them loudly and often as he walked amongst them." She hastened her strumming now trying to bring an atmosphere of tension. Neria was entranced, the smoke from the bonfire had slowly fallen and surrounded them, all she could see was the blood glowing from Lyla's face and it was awe-inspiring. "The sun got jealous. He saw all the joy that the land had given his son and felt angry. He brought his face full on to the land and out of spite burnt all life from it. The land cracked and split from bitterness and pain, it cried salty tears which fell from the loss she felt. These pools of tears formed the oceans we know today and the cracks in her body became the rivers and streams."

Lyla played her bow even quicker now and rose her voice, it was beautiful to see for Neria who had managed to make the flames dance along with the music sending flames up and down in time with the music, Neria had never before really believed in any gods but she was enjoying this immensely.

"Elgar'nan was furious at what his father had done and vowed vengeance. He rose into the sky and wrestled with the sun. He would not lose to his father, he refused to. They fought for an eternity but eventually the sun grew weak and faltered as Elgar'nan's rage was unabated. Eventually the sun was defeated and Elgar'nan threw him into a great and deep abyss that had formed by the land's sorrow. With the sun gone the world was thrust into shadows, and all that remained in the dark sky was the reminders of the fight between father and son. The droplets of blood that sprinkled across the sky twinkling and shimmering in the darkness." Lyla continued softly playing for a while gazing into the dancing flames with a smile on her face.

"That was a beautiful story Lyla. Thank you for letting me join you tonight." Neria got up and walked over to Lyla as she spoke, brushing her hair from her face and wincing at the smoke burning her eyes.

"The night isn't over yet Lethallan that was only the story of Elgar'nan, as I said before we are here to worship Mythal as well. We will continue with her song soon enough, first we must eat and drink, can I have the herbs you collected please." Neria passed the bag to Lyla who immediately placed them in the empty flask, she poured a few drops of blood from the other flask into it then took her water skin and filled the flask, she shook the mixture then used it to fill a kettle she had brought with them.

"I am sorry Lyla can you explain what you are doing?" Neria's curious nature had taken over, she had originally hoped just to let the experience wash over her and just enjoy the moment but she needed to understand it all now.

"Ma nuvenin. I am making tea from the herbs and blood we have gathered. We will drink this to thank the land for the gifts it gave Elgar'nan." Lyla didn't look up from what she was doing as she spoke.

"And why did you put the blood on our faces and let it fall from your mouth?"

"So full of questions lethallan." Lyla looked up and stuck her tongue out. "We put the blood on our faces to show our anger at the sun, it is a mask that represents Elgar'nan's anger at his father. I am a hunter first and foremost, I let the blood drip from my face to show I have his vengeance flowing from me freely." She placed the kettle to boil on the bonfire and went to retrieve the chopped rabbits to boil them as well.

Neria enjoyed the cooked rabbit and was pleasantly surprised at the taste of the tea, she had expected it to be rancid but in fact it was quite sweet in taste which she enjoyed. She looked up to Lyla to see what to do next and saw she reclaimed her seat on the rock and was playing her bow again.

"Elgar'nan was happy. He had defeated the sun, his father, and the land was covered in darkness. He wanted to console his mother so he told her that he will replace all that the sun had destroyed. But the land knew that without the light of the sun nothing would grow. She whispered this to her son and begged for the sun to be released from his prison but Elgar'nan's pride was too great. His vengeance too terrible. He refused." Neria heard herself gasp and realised how engrossed she was in the tale. Lyla strummed slowly as she continued. "It is then that a woman rose from the sea of tears and walked onto the land. Mythal the great protector. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow and instantly his anger was calmed and he knew it had made him be led astray. Humbled, Elgar'nan went to speak to his father he said he would release the sun if he promised to be gentle and return to the land each night. The sun, feeling remorse at what he had done, agreed." Her strumming sped up again now to play a happy tune. "And so the sun rose again in the sky, and shone his golden light upon the earth. Elgar'nan and Mythal with the help of the land and sun, brought back to life all the wondrous beautiful things that the sun had destroyed, and they grew and thrived. That night when the sun had gone to sleep, Mythal gathered the glowing earth around his bed, and formed it into a great glowing sphere to be placed in the sky, a pale reflection of the sun's true glory." She played her bow for a little longer then stopped and looked up to the sky. "Ma serannas Mythal."

"Ma serannas Mythal." Neria heard herself say, she had tears in her eyes from the story she had been told, she had not believed in the gods before now but after tonight she had more reasons to than not.

"Neria lethallan, it is time for you to sleep, the final part of the ritual is upon us. I must stay awake and ensure that the sun does not rise until morning, I must act as a keeper would, I fear I am the closest we have now." As she spoke she heard something in the trees behind her and ducking to look behind her. Due to equal parts luck and reflex the arrow that had been fired at her from behind the treeline flew just over her head. "Neria" Lyla shouted whilst scrambling to grab her weapons. "Run back to the inn, get the group quickly! I will hold them off for as long as possible."

Without wasting any time to check that Neria had done as ordered she grabbed her dal'thanu and dar'missan and ran towards where the arrow had been fired from. She could not yet see the enemy but she could hear the strings of a bow being pulled back, the sound of armoured boots clanging as they marched and she knew that if her group weren't here soon she would not survive long. Her swords suddenly erupted in flames and she silently thanked Neria who had enchanted her weapons before running for help.

She dove behind a tree just in time to see another arrow fly past her, taking a moment to collect herself she listened out for any movement nearby. A twig snapped to her right. She jumped out at the noise swinging her axe wildly at the cause of it, she struck a man in leather armour right on the neck, severing his head.

Blood flowed onto her face from the open wound of the man as he fell and she drank down the drops that fell into her mouth, it was not unusual for her people to use human sacrifices in the Mythal ritual and she would treat this men as nothing different. She bent down to grab the bow and quiver of arrows from the man and clambered up the nearest tree, the people attacking her may have thought they were at an advantage attacking her here little did they realise this was her hunting ground, land like this is where she perfected the art of hunting.

Reaching the nearest tree branch she hauled herself up and looked around for any sign of movement. She knew that the only way she would survive now would be to go unnoticed for as long as possible, act as a shadow not the bull-headed berserker she normally was. She nocked an arrow in her bow and surveyed the campsite, there was no-one there. The treeline was silent as well, it was as if she had imagined all the excitement of a moment ago, she was about to get down when another arrow flew towards her. She saw it coming but had nowhere to run it hit her straight in her left shoulder, she felt her arm go numb with pain and dropped the borrowed bow, she would have to fight hand to hand now and hope she is rescued before too late.

Dropping to the floor she grabbed her dal'thanu and when she saw it was still burning she cursed to herself as that must have been how that had spotted her in the tree. She ran towards the hidden archer and let her anger build up inside her. "How dare you!" She shouted in Elvish. "This is a sacred place. This is not for your eyes!" She screamed louder as she approached the treeline, diving to the ground and rolling to avoid more arrows. "With Elgar'nan's fury I will slay you all." Jumping behind the trees she brought her axe up to swing at the archer but was greeted instead by a boot to the chest throwing her back and onto her behind.

The archer stepped out of the shaded treeline and aimed an arrow at her, daring her to move. He was soon joined by an elf who stood behind him. This elf had braided shoulder length blond hair that flowed behind his ears, he drew two sharp knives from his back and stepped towards Lyla.

"Hola, little elf." He cried out to her, his accent was strange to Lyla, in the light of the campfire she could see the elf had vallaslin, or at least tattoos on his face, she had expected a Dalish accent but this but this was something different. "The Antivan Crows send their regards."

He jumped forwards driving his daggers down to where Lyla's face had been just moments ago, she had rolled out of the way and with what little strength she had left had thrown her axe at the archer, killing him instantly. Unfortunately this left her unarmed and defenceless against the foreign elf, which he knew,

"It is always sad to kill such a beautiful woman but I must do what I am told, you understand." He stalked towards her again bringing his knife up to strike down at a moment's notice. Lyla scrambled looking for something, anything, nearby to fight back with, she crawled back away from the elf and spotted a rock just within arm's reach. Stretching out her arm for the rock alerted the elf to her plan though and he dived forwards and landed on her midriff just as she grabbed it, his dagger flew down towards her neck as her rock soared across to his head catching him on the temple, rendering him unconscious. His dagger missed its mark and got her shoulder instead of her neck, damaging the injury even more. Lyla looked over to check he wasn't moving but felt herself slipping away, the world faded into black as she cried out in pain, hoping beyond hope that her friends would arrive before he awoke.

_**Author's Note.**_

_**The whole idea of the Dalish elves having a ritual to worship the moon came from the banter between Leliana and Morrigan where she says something like 'Certainly not. I've no primitive fear of the moon that I must place my faith in tales so that I may sleep at night' and all the stories she tells of the gods are shamelessly adapted from the codex about said god. Hope the cliff-hanger isn't too much for you! Don't forget to favourite/review/follow etc. etc. **_


	20. Chapter 20 - Bloody Knife-ears

_**Authors note.**_

_**God I have beaten the writer's block that plagued me since the fade chapters and I honestly really enjoyed writing this and the last chapter.**_

_**Zant I don't know if you laughing at the ritual is a good or bad thing either but at least you enjoyed it!**_

_**Enjoy the latest chapter my friends and prepare yourself for a chapter filled with plot and fluff!**_

* * *

Chapter 20 – Bloody Knife-ears.

_'It was all that knife-ears fault. First she betrayed the king and got him killed, maker guide his soul, now she's gone and killed two of my men and the bloody assassin we were hired to help. It's her fault and I'm gonna make her pay.'_

Harlus was a good soldier, a good captain, he had been at the siege of Ostagar himself and had seen first-hand the betrayal of the King, he saw his friends abandoned because the Wardens didn't light the beacon, and it was all the King Regent could do but to save his men. It had been a massacre and all because of the Grey Wardens. When Teyrn Howe had summoned him and three of his men to the castle for a task involving them he had jumped at the chance for revenge, the Kings blood needed to be repaid with Warden blood.

**-FTDTD-**

Teyrn Howe was a sinewy squirrel of a man but he was the Teyrn and that meant Harlus had to respect him. His orders from the man were given plainly, he was to accompany an elven assassin on a mission to destroy the last of the Grey Wardens and he was to bring three of his best men, five men should have been more than enough to kill a little elven girl and a failed Templar. How wrong could they have been?

The journey from Denirim following the Wardens had been quite entertaining for Harlus, the Assassin turned out to be extremely enjoyable company, regaling the troupe with stories of the women he had bedded and the more risqué of his missions for the crows, Harlus had never really agreed with assassination but this elf managed to make it sound quite romantic, like an avenging angel from the stories told by minstrels.

It had taken the best part of two months to finally catch up with the wardens and the Crow had the plan of cornering the girl first, they would wait till she was alone then take her out. A single elf should have been easy enough for the group to take care of. Once they saw her take another elf towards the woods nearby the mage tower they knew it was time.

They positioned themselves circled around the camp the elf had made up and watched, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. The things Harlus saw made him suppress laughter, the stupid knife-ear was killing rabbits and claiming it was a sacrifice, the bitch must worship the old elven gods he had heard about, though that thought worried him as far as he knew only the Dalish elves would worship any other gods than the Maker and they were scary, he had been attacked by a group of the knife-ears once before and had barely made it out alive.

He saw his friends shoot at her and find their target. He saw her shake it off and continue like nothing had happened. He saw her kill one of his friends with ease before collapsing and being set upon by another soldier and the Crow. She managed to kill the soldier whilst collapsing and still managed to fight off the assassin despite taking another knife to the shoulder.

He approached her body carefully, he had seen her fall but he would not make the mistake that his companions had, he wouldn't lower his guard. Bending over the body he saw the bitch was still breathing.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to my men knife-ear." He spat on her and twisted the knife embedded in her shoulder. "I'm gonna make you suffer before I slit your throat." He pulled the knife out and was about to bring it down into her again when he heard a blood-curdling scream from behind him.

He jumped up and looked in the direction of the scream when he heard another sound that made his skin crawl, a wild howl. He brought his sword out of its sheath and stood ready to fight whatever beast burst out of the trees and mentally steeled himself, knowing that he was the last one alive, he had no back up to rely on.

A great dire-wolf burst out of the trees shortly followed by a mabari warhound, they stood opposing Harlus baring their fangs and growling. The sight was enough to make the veteran soldier soil his armour and swear loudly. He stepped forward and swung wildly hoping to scare the beasts off but failed. They ran forward and his last sight was a set of fangs closing around his throat.

**-FTDTD-**

Wynne had set up a small tent in the middle of the camp to care for Lyla, she had been very close to death when they found her and Wynne would not risk moving her more than necessary, she had also asked the men to clear the bodies away she would be damned if she had to stay near corpses. Alistair had discovered something peculiar however, the corpse of the elf was in fact not a corpse at all. Somehow the man had survived. Wynne could not in good conscience let a man bleed to death when she had the power to help so she had told Neria to do what she could for the elf, providing him just enough magic to recover from his injuries.

Lyla's injuries were much more substantial and to a lesser healer they would have been fatal, fortunately this was not Wynne's first battle and no doubt would not be her last, she was used to fixing broken injured men and despite the severity of the elf's wounds she would recover completely in time with just a few lasting scars.

"How is she Wynne?" Leliana whispered across the deafening silence. She had not left her friends side since they found her, not even to help clear up the camp. "Will she wake soon?"

"She will child." Wynne spoke softly. "She will be in much pain however and there is little I can do to stop that." Leliana's brow rose in confusion and Wynne realised the Orlesian had little experience with healing magic. "Whilst her body may be fixed, she was very close to death and her mind will remember that. Her mind will still think it is injured and her arm will be agony for at least a day until her mind realises."

Wynne quietly left the tent, leaving Leliana to care for her friend alone. She went to seek out the other Warden and inform him of his commander's recovery. She finally found him stand guard over the captured elf with Sten and the Hound. They had tied him up to a tree to ensure he would not be able to escape. As she approached she heard the elf start to groan as he woke up.

"Urgh." He groaned as he opened his eyes. "I rather thought I would wake up dead. Or not wake up at all as the case may be but I see you haven't killed me yet."

"I have some questions." Alistair spoke clearly as he bent closer to the elf.

"Oh I see. I'm to be interrogated? Let me save you some time." The elf smiled as he spoke, Wynne found herself entranced by the man. "My name is Zevran. Zev to my friends. I am a member of the Antivan Crows brought here for the purpose of slaying any surviving Grey Wardens" He paused to laugh. "Which I have failed at sadly."

"I am rather happy you failed if I am honest." Alistair said but he couldn't help a smile forming across his lips.

"So would I be in your shoes. For me however it sets a rather poor precedent doesn't it? Getting captured by a target seems a tad detrimental to ones budding assassin career." He laughed quietly again, the gravity of the situation obviously no matter to him.

"Who or what are the Antivan Crows?" Alistair inquired.

"This elf is a crow? That makes sense." Wynne began, bringing Alistair's gaze to her. "They are an order of assassins out of Antiva. I understand they almost run that nation and are only available at great expense."

"Quite right." The assassin chuckled. "I am surprised you haven't heard much of the crows out here. We are quite infamous back in Antiva."

"Who hired you to kill us Crow?" Alistair asked sternly. The elf's jovial attitude was starting to grate him.

"A rather taciturn fellow in the capital. Loghain, I think his name was? Yes. That was it." He smiled again, uncaring of the ropes that bound him.

"That bastard." Alistair cursed. "So you're loyal to that traitor!" he went for his blade before Wynne stopped him.

"Let the elf continue Warden, let's not do anything hasty yet."

"Thank you beautiful. Before you ask, I have no idea what his problems are with you, you get in his way for power or some such nonsense I presume." He smiled up at Alistair who was still in a mind to kill the prisoner. "Beyond that. No I am not loyal to the man, I was contracted to perform a service."

"When were you to see him next?" Alistair asked through clenched teeth.

"I was not. If I had succeeded I would have returned home to Antiva and the Crows would have informed your Loghain of the results." He paused for a moment before continuing. "If he didn't already know. If I had failed I would be dead. Or I should be as far as the crows are concerned. No need to see Loghain then." He grinned.

"**IF** you had failed?" Alistair was shocked.

"What can I say, I am an eternal optimist. Although the chances of me succeeding now are a bit slim aren't they?" He stopped to chuckled quietly which soon turned into a full on laugh but when he saw stony faces around him he stopped. "Though I suppose you wouldn't find that funny would you?"

"Why are you telling me all this?" Alistair sighed.

"Why not? I was not paid for my silence. Not that I offered it for sale precisely." He smiled that smile again and it infuriated Alistair.

"So you were paid to talk my ear off?" He all but screamed, letting his fury take over.

"No." The man laughed. "Consider it something I am throwing in for free." Alistair growled and stepped back towards his companions. "Though if you are done with your interrogation I have a proposal for you. If you're of a mind."

"I don't. I plan to kill you Crow. You are an assassin working for the enemy." Alistair growled again and went for his blade.

"Alistair stop." Wynne reached a hand out to the warden placing it softly on his armoured shoulder. "You can't make this decision. Lyla is your commander she will be furious if you kill him without consulting her first."

"She will want me to kill him anyway, you know what she is like!"

"But it is her decision, you named her Warden-Commander Alistair. That makes her your superior you must let her decide."

**-FTDTD-**

"Lethallan. I knew you'd come save me." Lyla groggily speaks as she awakes. Leliana gasps in delight as she does and grabs her friend's hand, squeezing it gently. "Though I did suspect you planned this attack just to avoid sharing a bed with Revas." The elf starts to laugh but it sends shooting pain up her right side so all she could do was groan in pain.

"Lyla!" Leliana shouted. "Don't move mon amie. I'll go get help for the pain." She squeezed Lyla's hand once more and quietly left the tent to find the elder mage.

She had barely been gone a moment before she returned with Wynne and Alistair in tow. Wynne bent down to examine her patient whilst Alistair stood at the entrance too shocked at his fellow warden's recovery to enter.

"Felas what is it?" Lyla asked, sensing the man's unease. "Don't worry about me if that's it. I have had much worse and no doubt will again before the war is done." Leliana dove to her place by her friend almost immediately, stopping Lyla's speech to smile at the human. "What in the name of the creators happened? Who were those men?"

Alistair quickly brought Lyla up to speed on what he had learnt from Zevran, explaining that he had been sent by the King Regent to murder the wardens. Once he had told her that Zevran was alive however she started to rise, groaning with pain and clenching her fist hard enough to white her knuckles.

"Where is he?" She growled.

"Should you be moving Lyla?" He asked, too shocked to respond to her question at first but when he saw the fire in her eyes he knew no power in Thedas could stop her right now. "I'll bring you to him." He led her out and towards the Assassin.

"So why shouldn't I kill you?" Lyla growled at the man. She had meant to be polite, well as polite as she was able, but the pain was getting to her, it was all she could do right now not to scream out.

"Here's the thing, my beautiful captor. Since I obviously failed to kill you, so my life if forfeit. That's how it works, if you don't kill me the Crows will." He smiled again up at her. "Thing is, I like living and you obviously are the type to give the Crows pause. Let me serve you instead."

She wasn't expecting that. An assassin tries to kill her and then decides to join, she would never have expected that if she lived to be a thousand. "What's to stop you from trying to finish the job at a later date?"

"To be complete honest I was never given much of a choice regarding joining the crows. They bought me from the slave market as a boy." The smile finally disappeared from his face at the recollection of this memory. "I think I have repaid their kindness tenfold and the only way out is to sign up with someone significantly stronger than them. Even if I did kill you know, they may just kill me on principle for failing the first time. Honestly I'd rather take my chances with you."

"I hate slavers." Lyla spat. "But I don't trust or like you flat-ear. You tried to kill me, you interrupted the Mythal ritual. If you were shemlen I would have killed you already fortunately for you though you aren't." She paused. Out of necessity to control her pain and her thoughts. "Do you think I am royally stupid?"

"I think you are royally tough to kill and utterly gorgeous." Lyla felt that familiar fear creep up on her that always does with the mention of her in that way. "Not that I think you'll respond to simple flattery but there are worse things in the world than to serve the whims of a deadly sex goddess." More fear bled through her, the pain was becoming uncontrollable and the way this elf was looking and talking about her made her feel ill.

"First. I am deadly yes but not a sex goddess, believe me I will hurt you if you ever call me that again." She spat on the floor trying to regain some control over her mind and body. "You can join us though, we need all the help we can get I fear."

"What!" Alistair cried behind her. "We are letting the assassin join us now?! Does that really seem like a good idea?"

Lyla turned and the fire in her eyes was more than enough to make Alistair step back, he was no craven but he had seen the woman lose control and had no desire to be on the other end of it. "Don't worry about it Felas." Her voice barely controlled as the pain she felt leaked through. "We can use him."

"We could use a swift kick up the head but you don't see me asking for one." Lyla growled at Alistair for his remark and was about to retort when Leliana expertly intervened.

"Welcome Zevran. Having an Antivan Crow sounds like a fine plan." She looked at her Friend as she spoke, trying to convey a silent message to her to calm down.

"Oh? You are another companion-to-be then? I was not aware such loveliness existed amongst adventurers, surely." He smiled up at her, flirting with his eyes. This was too much for Lyla, first he had spoken like that to herself and that was bad enough but not Leliana.

The control she had been losing with her fury at the pain and the situation she was in had finally slipped. She turned and didn't even hear Leliana's reply before back slapping the bound elf. "Not her flat-ear. You don't speak to her like that." She turned her head to Alistair and ordered him to cut the ropes binding him before retiring to the medical tent and taking the flask of Elfroot that Wynne had expertly prepared for her.

**-FTDTD-**

Two nights had passed since she had let Zevran into the party and only now did she feel the pain subside. Wynne had been caring for her as best she could but the potions she had provided barely took the edge off the pain she was feeling. The only thing that made her feel any better was Leliana. The Orlesian had took it upon herself to look after Lyla as much as possible after the attack and the songs she would sing to Lyla when the pain was at its worst was all that kept her sane. If Lyla had doubted it before she knew now that despite her peoples oldest and most sacred rules she had fallen for the human and it scared her.

Little did she know that the last two days had had the same effect on Leliana, she knew that she was feeling something for the elf before and had silently hoped it was love. She had worried that after Marjolaine she would never feel that emotion again, never trust someone that much again but after the short few weeks she had travelled with the Wardens she felt herself trusting Lyla more than she had trusted anyone before, she could not explain it.

That morning Lyla called the group to crowd round a map of Ferelden and informed the group of their path, they were to travel north around Lake Calenhad to wrap around and reach Redcliffe castle. She had realised that despite it seeming counterintuitive to walk in the opposite direction it was actually a shorter distance and Alistair agreed with her.

After a day's travel they had made good progress mostly due to Zevran who despite not being allowed weapons had made himself busy all day, waking first and preparing the food for the party, clearing the camp quickly for them and preparing their meals throughout the day. Lyla was glad, she had wanted to like the elf despite him not being Elvhen and he was proving useful enough that it was hard not to.

Four days later they found themselves at the mountain pass to Orzammar, kingdom of the Dwarves, and bumped into the pair of dwarven merchants they had met outside Lothering after laughing about what a small world it was they decided to tag along with the group as they were traveling in the same direction, Lyla was glad of the company but more glad of the pony and cart they had allowed the party to use, meaning they no longer had to carry the heavy inventory they kept.

That night Leliana and Lyla had retired to their tent first, despite having enough tents now they elected to share both saying they were used to each other's company and it would feel strange to part now after so long together. Leliana felt it was finally time to reveal her true nature to her friend and hoped beyond hopes that the elf wouldn't judge her for her past wrongs.

"Lyla, are you awake?" She whispered across the small tent but when she rolled in her bedroll to face the elf she saw her bright emerald eyes staring back at her. "Oh, good. Do you mind if we talk awhile?"

"Of course not my friendly minstrel." Lyla smiled across the darkness and giggled. "I don't think I have ever called you that have I?"

"No you haven't Lyla." She giggled too. "It's strange to have a nickname from you in the common tongue, I'll admit I prefer your elvish ones. It's been a long time since someone other than this group called me minstrel though, it used to be bard."

"I thought a bard was the same thing?" Lyla's face scrunched up in confusion, or was it frustration? "Leli, these words are all so confusing to me, there are no bards or minstrels in the clans. I am unused to so many strange words lethallan."

"Many use the words interchangeably mon amie. But to do so in Orlais would cause a misunderstanding. You see minstrels are just singers and storytellers but a Bard is much more. Bards are spies. Some say there is a bard order but I don't think so, they usually work in small groups or alone, providing services for whatever patron can pay."

"What sort of services does a bard do?" Instead of clearing Lyla's confusion if her face was any indication all the explanation had done was confuse her more.

"What do you think? They infiltrate, steal, assassinate." She smiled to herself remember the excitement she had felt playing the game but the smile fell from her face as she heard Lyla gasp and bring her hand to her face.

"I knew it!" she all but squealed. "You are no innocent sister!"

"It seems I have revealed too much." She found herself giggling at the elf's reaction, she loved how the woman could switch personas so easily, it was fascinating to see, one minute grumpy the next murderous the next giggly. "But the past is the past is it not? It doesn't matter what I used to be."

"Of course it doesn't lethallan, is that were you learnt to fight and shoot so well?"

"My skills served me well yes but I had to leave that life." She stopped just wondering how much she should reveal just now.

"Why lethallan, you can tell me you know? You know my secret, I trust you and you can trust me." Lyla reached across the small tent and placed a gentle hand on the bards arm.

"I was being hunted in Orlais."

"Hunted? What for?" The gentle hand squeezed the bards shoulder, bringing welcome strength.

"I was framed. Betrayed by someone I thought I knew and could trust. Marjolaine… she was my mentor… I thought she was my friend." Leliana felt her eyes start to mist up and then Lyla's hand started to stroke her arm and she felt a little calmer at replaying the memory in her mind. "She was the one who taught me the bardic arts, how to blend in as a servant or how to enchant with words and song or even how to pass and carry myself as a noble-woman. The skills I learnt I used to serve her, my bard-master, because I loved her, and because I enjoyed what I did."

"You loved her?" the stroking hand once again fell still and rested on the bards arm.

"She was a remarkable woman. I cannot fully express the admiration I had for her, or the depth of my affection. I thought I knew her my devotion to her blinded me to her… less than noble attributes." Her eyes burnt with tears that died to be spilled but she refused to let herself cry. "You could say it was my fault. I was sent to kill a man and bring Marjolaine everything he carried but once I found and killed the man all I found on his person was documents, sealed documents."

"You opened them didn't you lethallan?" Lyla's emerald eyes pierced through Leliana's blue.

"My curiosity got the better of me I'll admit, I opened the letters and they contained information. Information Marjolaine had been selling. Information about Orlais to other countries, it was treason."

"Is that a bad thing lethallan?" Lyla was new to the world of international politics, she was not used to politics at all if she was honest but the tone in Leliana's voice let her know that at least the bard disapproved.

"I considered it to be. My life as a bard taught me to keep my loyalty fluid and I was unconcerned for the fact she was a traitor more that she would be caught as Orlais has a harsh view on treason, the harshest. As I was soon to discover." Leliana's first tears fell as she approached the crux of her story, she was not looking forward to recovering these memories but she knew she could trust the elf.

"What do you mean da'assan?" Lyla brought herself closer, she longed to bring comfort to her friend so she had cast aside her bedroll and cast her arm around the bard.

"I should have left well enough alone, but I didn't. I had to tell Marjolaine I feared for her life. She brushed aside my concern and admitted her guilt but promised it was all in the past. That is why she needed the documents destroyed and like a fool I believed her. I kept on believing her until they came for me. Showing me the documents, altered by her hand to make me the traitor." She couldn't stop the tears from falling now nor could she herself from crawling further into the smaller elf's embrace.

"She betrayed you?" Lyla's voice little more than a whisper in her friend's ear but it dripped with surprise.

"Yes…" she held onto her friend more as tears fell from her, trying to find the strength to continue her story. "The Orlesian guards are cruel Lyla. They did terrible things to me to make me confess, they were as cruel to me as the Templars were to you mon amie." Lyla's arms held her tighter at this confession and Leliana felt tears fall onto her head as Lyla cried for the pain she shared with her friend. "It was a traitor's punishment I endured and it was to end in an unmarked grave."

"You never once sought revenge for Marjolaine's betrayal?" the familiar fury was back in Lyla's voice if a little clouded with the sadness she was also feeling for the bard.

"No. Survival was my only concern at the time, I used the skills I had learnt and when I saw the opportunity I took it and escaped. I did not seek Marjolaine out. If she thought I was coming for her she would have me caught again. I fled as to ferelden and eventually the Chantry and the Maker. Ferelden protected my person and the Maker saved my soul. That is the reason I am here mon amie there are no more secrets between us, at least in this."

"Thank you for trusting me so much Leli." Lyla relaxed her grip a little to allow Leliana to lie back in her roll but instead of returning to her own she cuddled up to the bard and rested her head on her shoulder.

"It feels good to have this off my chest, thank you for listening Lyla, and understanding." She brought her hand up and stroked the back of the elf's head gently before finding herself drifting off to a pleasant night's sleep.

**_Authors note._**

**_Ok i definitely didn't write the whole of the last chapter and change Zevrans introduction like this just to make a joke about Leliana missing our lovely elf and having to share a bed with Revas. Yep i definitely did not do that._**


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